WEEKLY: Holiday lull sees China mills' stocks climb
The continuous rally in finished stocks was mainly due to the increase in output among the surveyed steel mills and the limited consumption during the Labour Day holiday over April 30-May 4, Mysteel Global learned.
Over the survey week, total production of the five major steel products among the sampled steel mills came in at 10.04 million tonnes, higher by 1.1% on week and marking the highest since mid-September 2021, the survey found.
"Transport services have not returned to normal, given the continued COVID-related restrictions in some regions of China to combat the spread of the coronavirus," a market source in Shanghai observed. "This meant that finished steel products could not be delivered to traders' warehouses in time," he noted.
Besides, demand from end-users remained depressed by the negative impact of the ongoing COVID resurgence, leading to an accumulation of stocks held by both Chinese steel mills and traders.
Over April 29-May 5, inventories of these five steel items at commercial warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities under Mysteel's survey reversed up after declining for the prior two months, rising by 1.9% on week to 25.29 million tonnes.
Chinese domestic steel prices recovered somewhat this week with the positive sentiment in the domestic market, thanks to expectations for a further relaxation of logistics controls in the coming term and the stimulus measures unveiled by the central government to stabilize the economy, Mysteel Global noted.
As of May 5, the first working day after the Labour Day holiday, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, for example, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 5,142/tonne ($777/t) including the 13% VAT, gaining Yuan 51/t from that on April 29.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
Edited by Zhenqi Yang, yangzhenqi@mysteel.com
Table 1 Five major steel products stocks at mills (Apr 28-May 4)
Product |
Volume ('000 t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
Rebar |
3,403.9 |
0.5% |
7.2% |
-0.1% |
Wire rod |
1,158.9 |
1.5% |
1.8% |
33.1% |
HR sheet |
1,057.7 |
1.6% |
11.7% |
0.7% |
CR sheet |
441.3 |
1.2% |
6.7% |
31.2% |
Medium plate |
924.8 |
5.4% |
9.9% |
12.7% |
Total |
6,986.6 |
1.5% |
7.3% |
7.7% |
Table 2 Five major steel products stocks at traders (Apr 29-May 5)
Product |
Volume (mln t) |
WoW (%) |
MoM (%) |
YoY (%) |
Rebar |
12.67 |
1.0% |
-6.2% |
0.1% |
Wire rod |
4.08 |
1.2% |
-12.5% |
-1.4% |
HR sheet |
3.99 |
3.0% |
4.1% |
8.1% |
CR sheet |
2.17 |
2.9% |
1.2% |
18.0% |
Medium plate |
2.37 |
5.4% |
7.2% |
6.7% |
Total |
25.29 |
1.9% |
-4.1% |
3.0% |
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.
WEEKLY: China mills' steel stocks empty faster
Jun 02, 2022 18:55
WEEKLY: China mills' steel stocks decline further
May 27, 2022 09:00
WEEKLY: China mills' stocks edge down 0.2%
May 20, 2022 09:00
WEEKLY: China mills' stocks grow to 13-month high
May 13, 2022 09:00
WEEKLY: China mills' steel stocks reverse up 0.6%
Apr 29, 2022 09:00