Posted on 16 Aug 2021
Stocks of the five major finished steel products at the 184 Chinese steel mills sampled under Mysteel’s weekly survey returned to the downtrend over August 5-11 after the short-lived rebound over the prior week, mainly thanks to the recovery in demand that outpaced the growth in output during the survey period.
Total inventories of the five major carbon steel finished products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate came in at 6.36 million tonnes as of August 11, down 1% on week against the growth of 6.2% over the previous week.
Over August 6-12, inventories of these five steel products at the commercial warehouses in China’s 132 cities fell for the second week though the drop was at a minor 0.1% on week to 23.3 million tonnes, as reported.
On the other hand, spot trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among China’s 237 traders averaged 182,324 tonnes/day over August 5-11, up 5,846 t/d or 3.3% on week, though the overall volume still suggested that China’s steel demand was still in an off season.
Over August 5-11, total production of these five major steel products among the 184 surveyed mills inched up for the second week by another 1% on week to 10.17 million tonnes, as there had been some resumption of rolling mills after maintenance or government-ordered halts, Mysteel noted during the survey.
Besides, higher steel margins and the expectation for further recovery in demand also encouraged higher output, market sources noted, which was proven by Mysteel’s assessment on the gross rebar margins of Chinese steel mills, showing that the profit averaged Yuan 716/tonne ($110/t) as of August 11, or up Yuan 184/t on week, partly due to the recent declines in prices of steelmaking raw materials such as iron ore and recovery in the domestic steel prices since the start of August.
As of August 11, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel’s assessment was at Yuan 5,375/t including the 13% VAT, up Yuan 31/t on week, while Mysteel SEADEX 62% Australian Fines decreased by $16.25/dmt over the period to $166.4/dmt CFR Qingdao.
Table 1 Five major steel products stocks at mills (Aug 5-11)
|
Product |
Volume ('000 t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
3,404.7 |
1.1% |
4.9% |
-6.3% |
|
Wire rod |
903.6 |
-9.8% |
-1.0% |
22.3% |
|
HR sheet |
952.8 |
-1.5% |
-8.5% |
-18.6% |
|
CR sheet |
328.7 |
-4.3% |
1.9% |
-1.8% |
|
Medium plate |
774.5 |
-4.2% |
-2.3% |
-14.4% |
|
Total |
6,364.3 |
-1.9% |
0.8% |
-6.1% |
Table 2 Five major steel products stocks at traders (Aug 6-12)
|
Product |
Volume (million t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
11.62 |
-0.7% |
-0.8% |
-4.5% |
|
Wire rod |
3.19 |
0.0% |
-1.8% |
-6.0% |
|
HR sheet |
4.22 |
2.0% |
5.2% |
23.5% |
|
CR sheet |
1.86 |
0.1% |
-1.4% |
8.8% |
|
Medium plate |
2.41 |
-1.0% |
-1.1% |
25.9% |
|
Total |
23.29 |
-0.1% |
0.0% |
3.1% |
Note: Mysteel has started publishing the new set of data regarding traders’ steel inventories since March 19 2020 to better represent the market with bigger sample sizes.
Rebar and wire rod: Sample size is increased to 429 warehouses in 132 Chinese cities from the previous 215 warehouses in 35 cities.
Hot-rolled coil (HRC): Sample size is increased to 194 warehouses in 55 cities from the previous 138 warehouses in 33 cities.
Cold-rolled coil (CRC): Sample size is increased to 182 warehouses in 29 cities from the previous 134 warehouses in 26 cities.
Medium plate: Sample size is increased to 217 warehouses in 65 cities from the previous 132 warehouses in 31 cities.
Source:Mysteel Global
