Posted on 05 Nov 2021
Stocks of the five major finished steel products at the 184 Chinese steel mills sampled under Mysteel's survey continued to mount during October 28-November 3, rising by another 5.9% on week, mainly due to the depressed demand from end-users.
Total inventories of the five products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate registered 5.67 million tonnes as of November 3, up for the second week and by another 316,500 tonnes from one week earlier, the survey found.
Among the total, stocks of most steel products grew on-week, as steel demand from end-users remained lackluster during the survey period, reflecting the pessimism prevailing in the domestic market, Mysteel Global learned.
For example, over October 28-November 3, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 traders across China under Mysteel's regular assessment averaged 172,683 tonnes/day, still a very low level though the volume had recovered by 13,699 t/d or 8.6% on week.
This was despite the fact that output of the five major products among the 184 surveyed mills had decreased slightly by 0.2% on week to 9.2 million tonnes over October 28-November 3, as the power curbs in many regions had not been fully lifted. Meanwhile, some steel mills had decided to idle lines and conduct maintenance, given the shrinking profit margins they're enduring from the fall in finished steel prices.
As of November 3, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar had declined to Yuan 5,134/tonne ($803/t) including the 13% VAT, dropping by Yuan 301/t on week and marking the lowest since July 12, according to Mysteel's data.
Stocks of the five steel items at the commercial warehouses Mysteel monitors in 132 cities emptied further for the fourth week over October 29-November 4 to reach 18.1 million tonnes, the survey showed. But the pace of the decrease had slowed to 2.6% on week, as against the on-week fall of 3.7% during the prior week, indicating the weakness in demand.
Table 1 Five major steel products stocks at mills (Oct 28-Nov 3)
|
Product |
Volume ('000 t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
2,801.2 |
7.6% |
17.7% |
0.1% |
|
Wire rod |
941.6 |
12.7% |
14.7% |
46.4% |
|
HR sheet |
882.2 |
-0.7% |
-5.2% |
-14.1% |
|
CR sheet |
320.0 |
3.9% |
-0.4% |
-5.6% |
|
Medium plate |
725.1 |
1.0% |
-5.1% |
-18.7% |
|
Total |
5,670.1 |
5.9% |
8.7% |
-0.5% |
Table 2 Five major steel products stocks at traders (Oct 29-Nov 4)
|
Product |
Volume (million t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
7.84 |
-4.3% |
-19.5% |
-11.4% |
|
Wire rod |
2.68 |
-1.9% |
-13.4% |
18.0% |
|
HR sheet |
3.55 |
-2.3% |
-12.9% |
0.5% |
|
CR sheet |
1.90 |
-1.3% |
-0.8% |
15.3% |
|
Medium plate |
2.12 |
1.2% |
-5.8% |
4.1% |
|
Total |
18.10 |
-2.6% |
-14.2% |
-1.4% |
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
