Posted on 27 May 2024
Inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by the Chinese steel mills under Mysteel's regular survey continued declining during the May 17-23 week to reach 4.69 million tonnes, the survey results show. However, the on-week fall slowed somewhat to 2.2% as against the decrease of 3.2% during the prior week.
The five major steel products comprise rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil and medium plate. During the survey period, stocks of rebar, wire rod and HRC steadily declined, while inventories of the other two major steel products climbed higher.
Some Chinese steelmakers including blast-furnace and electric-arc-furnace mills lifted their production this week, leading to the continuous rise in China's finished steel output, Mysteel Global noted.
Over May 16-22, total production of the five major steel items among the sampled steel producers under Mysteel's tracking touched a five-month high of 8.96 million tonnes, rising for the sixth straight week by 0.7% on week.
Domestic finished steel prices recovered this week with the firming of ferrous futures prices, Mysteel Global learned. Transactions in the physical market also improved with the replenishment of some end-users to meet their immediate needs.
As of May 22, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, a pointer to domestic steel-market sentiment, was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,899/tonne ($538/t) including the 13% VAT, up by Yuan 97/t from one week earlier.
On Wednesday, the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for delivery in October closed the daytime trading session higher for the fifth trading day at Yuan 3,800/t, up by Yuan 183/t from the settlement price on May 15.
Mysteel's other survey showed that the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 Chinese trading houses under its tracking averaged 151,449 tonnes/day over May 16-22, higher by 27,788 t/d on week.
Inventories of the five major steel products at traders' warehouses in the 132 cities nationwide under Mysteel's regular survey also moved down at a slower pace to reach 21.1 million tonnes over May 17-23, slipping for the third week by 2.8% on week – as against the on-week decline of 3.5% over the prior week, the findings showed.
Source:Mysteel Global
