Posted on 07 Jun 2024
The stocks of finished steel products at trading houses across China under Mysteel's tracking witnessed an uptick of 0.1% on week during May 31-June 6 after four weeks of declines, according to the latest stocks survey. Survey respondents cited easing demand from steel end-users amid the hot and humid weather as the major reason for the rise.
Total inventories of the five steel items comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate held by traders in the 132 Chinese cities Mysteel monitors bounced back by a small 14,900 tonnes on week to nearly 21 million tonnes as of June 6.
During the survey period, medium plate and rebar showed on-week rises in their inventories, growing by 89,400 tonnes and 19,800 tonnes respectively on week to reach 2.9 million tonnes and 9.2 million tonnes, the survey data showed.
"The imminent national college entrance exam period (over June 7-10) will restrain demand for steel from building contractors, as work near examination venues needs to be suspended for a quiet environment for students sitting the exams," said a source in East China's Zhejiang. He also mentioned that the approaching Dragon Boat Festival holiday (over June 8-10) would hinder steel consumption as well.
On the other hand, a market watcher in Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong province said persistent and intense rainfalls in that region have restricted steel demand and that spot trading was rather poor. The rainy days would last for another 1-2 weeks, he added.
The daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses Mysteel follows nationwide averaged a mere 113,876 tonnes/day over May 30-June 5, lower by 8.6% on week.
The inventories of finished steel products in Mysteel's smaller sample across 35 cities continued to decrease though the pace slowed further, with total stocks lower by 0.6% or 78,400 tonnes on week at 12.7 million tonnes as of June 6.
Source:Mysteel Global
