WEEKLY: China mills’ steel stocks accumulate further
As of January 6, total inventories of the five major steel products comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate at the surveyed mills’ yards increased by another 3.2% on week to 5.4 million tonnes, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.
“Daytime temperatures in northern China have fallen well below zero degrees C and the extremely cold weather has forced many construction firms to end their outdoor work ahead of schedule,” a market source in Shanghai said. “Their demand for steel remained sluggish this week.”
At the same time, the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in Shijiazhuang and Xingtai in North China’s Hebei province, major steel-producing hubs in China, had disrupted finished-product transportation and local steel demand, while the impact on the mills’ production was not obvious, as Mysteel Global reported.
Over December 31-January 6, China’s total output of the five major steel products among the surveyed steel producers grew for the second week to 10.52 million tonnes, up another 0.6% from the prior week, according to the survey.
Finished steel stocks of the five major items at traders’ warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities Mysteel checks also moved up further to top 14 million tonnes as of January 7, the survey showed. The on-week growth also expanded to 6.4% against the prior week’s 2.6%, indicating the lacklustre demand from steel end-users.
Although traders’ steel stocks were not very high and the volumes in Mysteel’s former smaller sample across just 35 cities were 0.5% lower compared with the same period last year, most Chinese traders were reluctant to build up stocks for the time being, as steel prices persisted rather high, Mysteel Global noted.
As of January 6, China’s national price of HRB 400 20mm dia rebar, a bellwether of domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed at Yuan 4,422/tonne ($685/t) including the 13% VAT, higher by Yuan 63/t on week and surging by Yuan 584/t from one year ago, according to Mysteel’s data.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
Table 1 Five major steel products inventories at mills (Dec 31-Jan 6)
Product |
Volume ('000 t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
Rebar |
2,597.2 |
0.5% |
6.2% |
16.6% |
Wire rod |
717.0 |
9.0% |
20.5% |
19.3% |
HR sheet |
1,021.8 |
4.4% |
4.0% |
20.0% |
CR sheet |
297.6 |
1.0% |
-2.4% |
-6.4% |
Medium plate |
785.6 |
7.1% |
-1.5% |
20.8% |
Total |
5,419.2 |
3.2% |
5.7% |
16.6% |
Table 2 Five major steel products inventories at traders (Jan 1-7)
Product |
Volume (million t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
Rebar |
5.86 |
7.4% |
-1.6% |
- |
Wire rod |
1.95 |
11.8% |
6.0% |
- |
HR sheet |
2.86 |
6.2% |
9.2% |
- |
CR sheet |
1.47 |
0.7% |
-3.2% |
- |
Medium plate |
1.84 |
2.9% |
4.0% |
- |
Total |
13.99 |
6.4% |
2.0% |
- |
Note: Mysteel has started publishing the new set of data regarding traders’ steel inventories since March 19 to better represent the market with bigger sample sizes, and the on-year comparisons will be filled up when feasible.
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.
The old set of data is still available in the separate databank service until March 11 2021.
Japan to probe graphite electrode imports
Apr 24, 2024 09:45
Nangang to further cooperation with Huawei
Apr 09, 2024 14:00
Japanese shipbuilding orders surge in February
Mar 20, 2024 12:00
China's light industry on growth track in 2023
Feb 27, 2024 12:15