Inventories of the five major steel products held by Chinese traders surveyed by Mysteel reversed down over June 17-23 after two weeks of gains, mainly as deliveries from mills to traders’ warehouses slowed due to transportation delays caused by lingering rains and scorching weather, survey respondents said. Traders also sold off stocks in large quantities during the week to generate cashflow, sources said.
The stocks of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate among traders in 132 cities nationwide canvassed by Mysteel decreased by 1.7% or 423,500 tonnes on week to 24.3 million tonnes as of June 23, the weekly survey found.
Among the five, stocks of rebar and wire rod showed on-week declines – 412,100 tonnes and 113,300 tonnes respectively – to reach 12 million tonnes and 3.6 million tonnes as of June 23, according to the survey data.
The frequent rainfalls and hot weather saw steel demand across much of China stay slack recently. In fact, over June 16-22, the daily average trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese traders Mysteel monitors dropped further, down 2.5% on week to just 137,467 tonnes/day, the data showed.
As of June 23, China’s national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a weathervane of the country’s steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at an 18-month low of Yuan 4,283/tonne ($638/t) including the 13% VAT, as low demand persistently weighed on domestic steel prices, sources said.
Meanwhile, steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel’s former smaller sample across just 35 cities had also reversed down by 284,100 tonnes or 1.8% on week to 15.5 million tonnes by June 23.
Written by Rong Zhang, zhangronga@mysteel.com
Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and SteelMint.
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