Posted on 14 Aug 2026
After mounting for three weeks, retail stocks of the five major carbon steel items held by the Chinese traders that Mysteel regularly checks finally declined during August 7-13, according to the results of Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
As of August 13, the combined inventories of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate held by traders in the 132 cities Mysteel monitors had dropped marginally by 0.6% or by 120,000 tonnes on week to 19.41 million tonnes, the survey results revealed.
All five sampled carbon steel products logged small on-week falls, with stocks of rebar and CRC showing the largest drops, Mysteel's data indicated.
Specifically, CRC inventories had slipped by 1.7% or 40,400 tonnes on week to 2.34 million tonnes as of August 13, while rebar stocks had edged down by 0.5% or 38,700 tonnes on week to 8.02 million tonnes as of the same day.
But the week's inventory data was somewhat skewed, as Typhoon Dolphin, which made landfall in East China's Zhejiang province last Sunday night, disrupted transportation in parts of East and North China, delaying warehousing registration for some finished steel cargoes, a Shanghai-based analyst noted.
Moreover, end-user demand for finished steel items, especially for steel longs, remained low this week due to typhoon-related suspensions of some construction projects in East China, he added.
The combined tonnage of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil traded among the 237 trading houses nationwide under Mysteel's tracking averaged 82,173 tonnes/day over August 6-12, down by 3.7% or 3,143 t/d on week. Notably, on August 10, the first workday after the typhoon's landfall, the trading volume reached only 60,433 tonnes – the lowest level this year outside of the Chinese New Year period in February.
During the sample week, finished steel prices recovered slightly due to sentiment lifts in futures markets. On August 12, Mysteel assessed the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,222/tonne ($478/t), up by Yuan 8/t on week, while the average price of Q235 4.75mm HRC had also recovered by Yuan 19/t on week to sit at Yuan 3,267/t on the same day.
Meanwhile, finished steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel's smaller sample of 35 cities also posted mild on-week drops this week, with the tonnage totaling 11.92 million tonnes as of August 13, also down by 0.6% or by 67,400 tonnes from August 6.
Source:Mysteel Global
