Posted on 28 Aug 2024
Inventories of rebar produced under the existing (and soon-to-be superseded) national standards have been declining steadily across China in sync with buoyant trading activities in the spot steel market, new Mysteel data suggest, with the tonnage held by 840 trading houses nationwide under Mysteel's tracking accounting for just 43.39% of the total rebar stocks as of August 27.
As of Tuesday, the proportion of old-standard rebar stocks being held by the sampled Chinese traders was lower by 2.55 percentage points on day or by a large 16.72 percentage point fall from a week earlier, according to Mysteel's data.
"The destocking of old standard rebars has proceeded smoothly," said a Shanghai-based industry watcher. He predicted the remaining volume would likely be fully digested by mid-September before new rules governing the production and performance of carbon steel rebars formally come into force on September 25, as reported.
On June 25, China's State Administration for Market Regulation approved two new mandatory national standards for hot-rolled plain and ribbed rebar, GB1499.1-2024 and GB1499.2-2024 under which rebars are required to meet stricter tolerances regarding production accuracy, fatigue performance, smelting processes and testing methods, as Mysteel Global has reported.
Mysteel's survey of spot sales of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 traders it monitors nationwide showed that their daily trading volume averaged 128,333 tonnes/day over August 21-27, climbing by 22,623 t/d or 21.4% on week. This indicates a significant pick-up in long steel demand from building contractors lately, a survey respondent remarked.
Domestic steel market sentiment had been somewhat bolstered by market expectations for a demand recovery in the looming traditional peak season for steel consumption during September-October, Mysteel Global notes.
Meanwhile, domestic steel prices had also exhibited signs of recovery, with the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar for example, rebounding by Yuan 103/tonne ($14.4/t) from the price on August 20 to reach Yuan 3,323/t and including the 13% VAT as of August 27, Mysteel's assessment showed.
The ratio of old-spec rebar at Mysteel's sampled 840 traders across China | ||||||
Region | Aug 21 | Aug 22 | Aug 23 | Aug 26 | Aug 27 | D-o-D Change |
Anhui | 63.52 | 59.77 | 64.76 | 60.85 | 51.56 | -9.30 |
Beijing | 49.07 | 43.77 | 45.53 | 43.97 | 39.87 | -4.10 |
Fujian | 68.10 | 62.59 | 61.03 | 56.38 | 54.59 | -1.79 |
Gansu | 27.65 | 22.94 | 22.35 | 22.35 | 22.35 | 0.00 |
Guangdong | 67.97 | 63.36 | 56.81 | 58.39 | 51.19 | -7.19 |
Guangxi | 60.33 | 58.00 | 53.40 | 50.87 | 49.47 | -1.40 |
Guizhou | 71.00 | 71.00 | 71.50 | 64.50 | 64.50 | 0.00 |
Hainan | 78.70 | 70.40 | 64.70 | 50.80 | 43.00 | -7.80 |
Hebei | 37.03 | 33.00 | 31.34 | 26.43 | 23.39 | -3.05 |
Henan | 44.13 | 37.61 | 35.37 | 33.72 | 32.04 | -1.67 |
Heilongjiang | 29.00 | 28.00 | 26.38 | 25.00 | 25.00 | 0.00 |
Hubei | 75.11 | 72.29 | 69.75 | 65.64 | 62.79 | -2.86 |
Hunan | 48.16 | 42.37 | 44.21 | 27.29 | 26.25 | -1.04 |
Gilin | 88.53 | 88.53 | 80.67 | 78.33 | 78.33 | 0.00 |
Jiangsu | 69.89 | 56.71 | 57.88 | 50.28 | 49.79 | -0.48 |
Jiangxi | 76.27 | 75.93 | 70.33 | 65.93 | 62.27 | -3.67 |
Liaoning | 46.77 | 40.00 | 35.81 | 33.03 | 30.87 | -2.16 |
Inner Mongolia | 66.25 | 61.88 | 56.25 | 50.63 | 44.38 | -6.25 |
Ningxia | 40.00 | 54.86 | 59.45 | 48.36 | 42.18 | -6.18 |
Qinghai | 43.00 | 36.50 | 36.00 | 30.00 | 28.50 | -1.50 |
Shandong | 32.46 | 32.07 | 29.86 | 26.94 | 26.72 | -0.23 |
Shanxi | 41.33 | 35.71 | 35.71 | 31.07 | 28.21 | -2.86 |
Shaanxi | 83.55 | 80.11 | 78.11 | 74.52 | 73.78 | -0.74 |
Shanghai | 80.00 | 80.69 | 70.00 | 63.79 | 64.14 | 0.34 |
Sichuan | 61.36 | 58.41 | 58.86 | 55.45 | 52.73 | -2.73 |
Tianjin | 63.08 | 62.31 | 60.77 | 43.46 | 37.69 | -5.77 |
Xizang | 96.67 | 76.67 | 76.67 | 75.00 | 75.00 | 0.00 |
Xinjiang | 50.83 | 44.17 | 38.33 | 37.50 | 33.75 | -3.75 |
Yunnan | 39.75 | 37.75 | 37.00 | 34.00 | 31.30 | -2.70 |
Zhejiang | 50.11 | 51.74 | 47.39 | 44.35 | 43.26 | -1.09 |
Chongqing | 31.11 | 31.11 | 28.89 | 25.56 | 24.44 | -1.11 |
Total | 55.11 | 52.44 | 50.35 | 45.94 | 43.39 | -2.55 |
Source: Mysteel |
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Source:Mysteel Global
