Over November 12-18, total stocks of the five major finished-steel products at the commercial warehouses of China’s 132 cities under Mysteel tracking fell to a 9.5-month low of 16.5 million tonnes, or down for the sixth straight week by another 4.8% or 836,000 tonnes, and among the five including rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate, rebar posted the steepest weekly decline.
During the latest survey period, all the five products dropped on week, and for rebar, the stocks fell to 6.9 million tonnes, or a new low since January 22 after having been down for the sixth successive week by 493,600 tonnes, and wire rod slipped to its 9.5-month low of 2.5 million tonnes after having reduced for the sixth week too by another 130,700 tonnes, according to the survey.
The decline was in response to domestic steel price slumps and thus less inclination among traders to hold onto high stocks as well as lower steel output among steel mills, Mysteel Global noted.
As of November 17, China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar under Mysteel’s assessment, for example, slid to its eight-month low of Yuan 4,723/tonne ($741/t) including the 13% VAT, or down for the fifth straight week by another Yuan 67/t on week.
Recently, Chinese steel mills appeared less enthusiastic in finished steel output amid thinning margins or even losses in some products, Mysteel Global noted from the market, and over November 11-17, the output of the five products among the 184 Chinese mills under Mysteel’s weekly track added up to about 9 million tonnes, or having slid for the third consecutive week by another 1.2% or 111,200 tonnes.
As of November 18, inventories of these five steel products under Mysteel’s smaller-scale survey among the social warehouses in China’s 35 cities also fell to its 9.5-month low of 10.8 million tonnes, or down for the sixth straight week by another 3.4% or 377,200 tonnes.
Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com
This article has been published under an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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