WEEKLY: China's retail steel stocks mount further

Retail inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by traders and stored in warehouses across China under Mysteel's tracking continued to swell during February 24-26, the results of the latest weekly survey show. Demand remains dull as most end-users aren’t expected to resume business after the Chinese New Year (CNY) break until March 3, China’s Lantern Festival, market sources said.

The combined stocks of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate piled in commercial warehouses in the 132 cities Mysteel regularly monitors leapt by 10% or by 1.99 million tonnes from February 23 to reach 21.84 million tonnes as of February 26, the survey