Posted on 30 Aug 2024
The steady six-week fall in stocks of the five major finished steel products held by traders across China under Mysteel's survey continued during August 23-29, with the tonnage thinning for the seventh straight week by another 3.9%, the latest data showed. Behind the erosion in retail stocks was higher long-steel demand from end-users, sources said.
The total inventories of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate at trading warehouses in the 132 cities nationwide Mysteel tracks declined by 757,800 tonnes on week to hit a seven-month low of 18.5 million tonnes as of August 29.
This result was mainly thanks to rising long steel sales during the survey week, with the daily trading volume of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses across the country that Mysteel follows climbing for a second week, up 3.9% or 4,584 tonnes/day on week to average 121,569 t/d over August 22-28.
Meanwhile, as the weather will become pleasant for outdoor construction activities next month, many market participants are bullish about the recovery in steel demand during the usual September-October peak steel season, Mysteel Global learned.
"The improvement in steel market fundamentals and positive signals on the macro-economic side are supporting domestic steel prices," said a market source. For example, China's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 3,337/tonne ($469/t) and including the 13% VAT on August 28, jumping by Yuan 87/t on week and marking a two-week rise.
Among the five items, stocks of rebar declined the most, dropping by 550,100 tonnes on week to 6.7 million tonnes as of Thursday. Second to rebar was medium plate, whose stocks slid 146,900 tonnes on week to 2.8 million tonnes, Mysteel's data showed.
On the other hand, the inventories of the five finished steel products held by traders in Mysteel's smaller sample across just 35 cities slipped for the eighth week in a row, down 4.3% or 518,000 tonnes on week to 11.4 million tonnes by August 29.
Source:Mysteel Global
