Posted on 28 Jan 2022
The stocks of finished steel products at trading warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities Mysteel tracks swelled for the fourth consecutive week during January 21-27, the latest data show. With the week-long Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday commencing January 31 just days away, many traders have already suspended their business to enjoy a longer holiday break, causing sales to slow, according to sources.
As of January 27, the stocks of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate held by those surveyed traders had surged by 15.8% or by some 2.4 million tonnes on week to reach 17.4 million tonnes, a 2.5-month high, Mysteel's weekly stocks survey found.
"Our local steel market has been in static mode with the stagnation of demand from building contractors," a steel trader based in East China's Zhejiang said, noting that "some quantities of steel products for winter restocking will gradually enter the market after the holiday."
Among the five major steel items, the stocks of rebar and wire rod continued to increase the most, with the former growing by 1.5 million tonnes on week to 7.6 million tonnes as of January 27, while stocks of the latter were up 642,400 tonnes to 2.9 million tonnes over the same period, the survey showed.
The spot trading of construction steel including rebar among the 237 domestic traders under Mysteel's survey averaged just 39,747 tonnes/day for January 20-21. As is normal practice ahead of CNY, Mysteel has temporarily suspended tracking this data effective January 24 due to the limited trading in the spot market.
Steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel's former smaller sample across just 35 cities also registered a four-week rise, with the tonnage mounting by 1.4 million tonnes or 14.9% on week to 11.2 million tonnes as of January 27, according to Mysteel's survey.
Source:Mysteel Global
