Posted on 20 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 emptied for the fifth consecutive week over December 9-15, declining by another 5.6% on week to a two-year low of 4.4 million tonnes, mainly thanks to the steady demand in some regions and the low-level output of the sampled mills.
Inventories of the five major items declined by varying degrees during the survey period, with those of wire rod and rebar recording the sharpest decreases of 11.6% and 6.3% respectively, the survey showed.
Although domestic steel demand remained lackluster overall during the survey week, with sales activity slowed by the fall in temperatures in northern China, consumption among end-users in eastern and southern China remained stable, contributing to the further decrease in steel inventories, Mysteel Global learned.
Over December 9-15, 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 175,894 tonnes/day, just down by 3,290 t/d or 1.8% on week.
"Steel items in some specifications are in short supply in eastern China, giving mills and traders some confidence to lift their offering prices (of these products)," a market source in Shanghai said.
Domestic output of the five major steel products still stayed at a low level, as many steel producers in northern China face restrictions on production because of ongoing winter production restraints and the frequent emergency curbs to improve local air quality, Mysteel Global noted.
Over December 9-15, China's total output of the five major steel items among the 184 mills under Mysteel's survey registered 9.09 million tonnes, moving up slowly for the second week by another 0.2% on week.
Inventories of these five steel products at commercial warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel's survey have slipped continuously since mid-October, and over December 10-16, they lost another 4.1% on week to reach an 11-month low of 14.14 million tonnes.
Chinese domestic steel prices have been rangebound for the past week, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel's assessment reaching Yuan 4,840/tonne ($760/t) including the 13% VAT as of December 15, lower by Yuan 7/t on week.
Table 1 Five major steel products stocks at mills (Dec 9-15)
|
Product |
Volume ('000 t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
1,919.2 |
-6.3% |
-31.5% |
-19.9% |
|
Wire rod |
575.4 |
-11.6% |
-38.1% |
-3.9% |
|
HR sheet |
875.0 |
-1.3% |
-4.9% |
-13.0% |
|
CR sheet |
312.3 |
-3.0% |
-8.6% |
4.8% |
|
Medium plate |
733.8 |
-4.5% |
-3.2% |
-6.5% |
|
Total |
4,415.7 |
-5.6% |
-23.2% |
-13.1% |
Table 2 Five major steel products stocks at traders (Dec 10-16)
|
Product |
Volume (million t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
|
Rebar |
5.46 |
-5.0% |
-21.4% |
-2.7% |
|
Wire rod |
2.06 |
-6.7% |
-17.9% |
16.4% |
|
HR sheet |
3.05 |
-2.9% |
-7.4% |
21.2% |
|
CR sheet |
1.84 |
-0.8% |
-1.7% |
24.3% |
|
Medium plate |
1.72 |
-3.8% |
-8.4% |
0.6% |
|
Total |
14.14 |
-4.1% |
-14.4% |
8.0% |
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
