Posted on 01 Mar 2024
The inventories of finished steel held by Chinese traders that have been steadily rising since late December mounted by a further 1.7 million tonnes over February 23-29, Mysteel's latest survey shows. But the pace of growth slowed from the on-week jump of 2.8 million tonnes in the prior survey week, mainly thanks to the on-week uptick in steel consumption as workers gradually returned to construction sites and factories after the Chinese Lantern Festival on February 24.
The stocks of the five major finished steel items comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate held by traders across the 132 cities Mysteel tracks climbed by 6.4% on week to reach 28.7 million tonnes as of February 29, lower than the 11.4% hike a week earlier, according to the latest data.
Among the five steel items, the stocks of rebar and wire rod still increased the most, with tonnage of the former mounting by 1.2 million tonnes on week to 14 million tonnes as of Thursday, and the latter gaining 339,200 tonnes at 4.1 million tonnes over the same period, the new statistics showed.
Nonetheless, some market insiders described the recovery in steel demand as being grim overall. "Currently, the domestic property market remains slack, and the infrastructure sector has not shown any substantial rise as well," remarked a source.
This week, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 traders Mysteel checks averaged a mere 79,884 tonnes/day over February 26-28 after Mysteel resumed tracking the data following the Chinese New Year holiday.
"Local mini-mills have resumed operations this week and there will be more finished steel deliveries from mills to traders' warehouses," according to a source based in Southeast China's Fujian province. He predicted a continuous accumulation in retail steel stocks given the slower-than-expected pickup in demand.
Over February 22-28, output of the five major steel products among the 184 Chinese steelmakers across the country Mysteel checks paused from a four-week decline, rebounding by 3.1% or 247,100 tonnes on week to 8.2 million tonnes.
The inventories of finished steel products in Mysteel's former smaller sample across just 35 cities also moved up further last week, rising by 6.4% or 1 million tonnes on week to 17.2 million tonnes as of February 29.
Source:Mysteel Global
