Posted on 28 Feb 2025
Inventories of the five major finished steel items held by Chinese traders across the 132 cities nationwide tracked by Mysteel rose further during the week to February 27, rising by a small 0.8% or 179,400 tonnes on week to touch a nine-month high of 21.7 million tonnes, according to Mysteel's latest survey.
Though stocks of the five items have been steadily mounting since early January, the pace of accumulation during the survey week slowed further from the 458,400 tonnes witnessed in the prior week, chiefly due to the on-month uptick in demand from end-users.
The weekly survey tracks inventories of the five carbon steel items comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate among the traders' warehouses in the 132 cities, Mysteel Global notes.
The slowing build-up in stocks was attributed to the ongoing recovery in demand from users, though some market players still grumbled that steel consumption remains generally sluggish.
Mysteel's survey among the 237 Chinese traders it follows nationwide showed that their spot trading of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil averaged 107,899 tonnes/day over February 20-26, rising by some 25.5% or 21,926 t/d from a week earlier.
Among the five items, rebar stocks still mounted the most, with the tonnage swelling by 230,000 tonnes on week to 9.5 million tonnes as of Thursday, while stocks of medium plate fell for the third straight week, declining by 147,000 tonnes on week to 2.7 million tonnes, the survey results showed.
A market insider in Beijing said the domestic steel market has been fluctuating lately in response to negative economic news from both at home and abroad, leading to shaky sentiment among market participants. He warned that many traders hold a cautious stance towards market trends.
China's domestic steel prices have also been rangebound, and as of February 26, the country's national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar, under Mysteel's assessment, had decreased by Yuan 20/tonne ($2.8/t) on week to reach Yuan 3,442/t and including the 13% VAT.
In addition, the inventories of finished steel products in Mysteel's smaller sample across just 35 cities had also gained during the survey week, though here too the pace had slowed, easing to 2.1% or 278,000 tonnes on week to 13.4 million tonnes by Thursday.
Source:Mysteel Global
