Posted on 13 Dec 2021
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate at the 184 Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's survey declined for the fourth week over December 2-8 to 4.68 million tonnes, down another 8.7% on week and marking the lowest since mid-January 2020.
Among the five major steel products, stocks of wire rod and rebar still posted the sharpest on-week falls of 22.7% and 10.4% respectively, the survey showed.
The significant decrease was mainly attributed to the fact that domestic steel mills accelerated their pace of deliveries, though demand from end-users is not so strong for the moment, especially as winter conditions worsen in northern China.
Over December 2-8, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese traders under Mysteel's regular survey averaged 178,872 tonnes/day, largely unchanged from the average of 179,184 t/d over the prior week.
China's total output of the five major steel items among the 184 mills under Mysteel's survey recovered by 1.7% on week after the continuous fall over the prior five weeks to 9.06 million tonnes over December 2-8. But the extent of the recovery was limited as many steel mills in northern China were under the production curbs as part of pollution abatement measures, Mysteel Global noted.
Meanwhile, inventories of these five steel products at commercial warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel's survey declined for the ninth consecutive week during December 3-9 to 14.75 million tonnes, the survey showed. The on-week fall slowed further to 2.8% however, against the 3.9% over the prior week.
"Most traders were not active in building up stocks as domestic steel prices remain at a relatively high level," a market source in Shanghai said.
For example, as of December 8, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment had strengthened for the sixth working day to Yuan 4,847/tonne ($760/t) including the 13% VAT, higher by Yuan 64/t on week.
Table 1 Five major steel products stocks at mills (Dec 2-8)
|
Product |
Volume ('000 t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
2,048.5 |
-10.4% |
-28.4% |
-16.3% |
|
Wire rod |
651.0 |
-22.7% |
-32.0% |
9.4% |
|
HR sheet |
886.6 |
-1.7% |
-0.4% |
-9.7% |
|
CR sheet |
322.1 |
-2.7% |
-1.6% |
5.6% |
|
Medium plate |
768.2 |
1.2% |
2.0% |
-3.7% |
|
Total |
4,676.4 |
-8.7% |
-19.2% |
-8.8% |
Table 2 Five major steel products stocks at traders (Dec 3-9)
|
Product |
Volume (million t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
5.74 |
-5.3% |
-22.8% |
-3.6% |
|
Wire rod |
2.21 |
-4.1% |
-16.3% |
20.4% |
|
HR sheet |
3.14 |
0.5% |
-7.7% |
20.0% |
|
CR sheet |
1.86 |
-0.1% |
-2.1% |
22.3% |
|
Medium plate |
1.79 |
-1.3% |
-8.7% |
1.1% |
|
Total |
14.75 |
-2.8% |
-15.0% |
7.6% |
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
