MYSTEEL: China’s stainless stocks at pre COVID-19 level
The latest result was 1.9% lower from one year ago, indicating that stainless stocks at traders’ warehouses had emptied at a normal pace, Mysteel Global notes.
Within the total, stainless stocks in Wuxi in East China’s Jiangsu province decreased by another 3.5% on week to 280,983 tonnes as of June 11, while stocks in Foshan in South China’s Guangdong province resumed trending downward during the same period after a short-lived rebound, falling by 6% on week against the prior week’s rise of 2.7%.
Stainless Stocks in Wuxi and Foshan (Unit: tonne)
Location |
CRC |
WoW (%) |
HRC |
WoW (%) |
Total |
WoW (%) |
Wuxi |
176,396 |
-6.73% |
104,587 |
2.49% |
280,983 |
-3.5% |
Foshan |
100,030 |
-8.82% |
91,944 |
-2.69% |
191,974 |
-5.99% |
Note: The data include all the series of stainless products at traders.
However, stainless transactions in the spot market saw no improvement over the survey period; in fact, fewer deals were concluded compared with the previous week, Mysteel Global notes. “One major reason to explain the continuous decline (in stainless stocks) is that domestic traders were reluctant to restock given the lacklustre demand from end-users,” a market watcher in Wuxi said.
Consequently, on Friday some major stainless producers decided to lower their offering prices by Yuan 100/tonne ($14/t) under the pressures of weak demand and the negative sentiment in the domestic market, Mysteel Global learned.
Market participants predict that China’s stainless stocks will likely see a turning point soon, as more products will be delivered to traders’ warehouses while demand is expected to weaken further in the coming term. At the same time, domestic stainless prices will face more challenges.
As of June 12, thanks to support from firm nickel prices the price of 304/2B 2mm stainless cold-rolled coil in Wuxi had remained unchanged from one week earlier at Yuan 13,900/t in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT, while that for 201/2B 1mm CRC in Wuxi slid by Yuan 100/t on week to Yuan 7,350/t in-warehouse and including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel’s data.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
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