China's retail steel inventories rise for fifth straight week

The stocks of finished steel at trading warehouses across China under Mysteel's tracking increased for the fifth straight week over January 12-18, rising by another 2.7% on week, as steel trading remained dull in the spot market, according to the latest survey.

Total stocks of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate among traders in 132 cities nationwide tracked by Mysteel grew 438,200 tonnes from a week earlier to reach 16.6 million tonnes (mnt) as of 18 January, touching a 2.5-month high, the survey results showed.

Rebar and wire rod still saw the sharpest on-week increases in stocks, with the volume of the former swelling by 318,800 tonnes on week to 7.1 mnt, and the latter up by 72,400 tonnes on week at nearly 2 mnt, both marking a six-week rise, Mysteel's data showed.

Responsible for the steady rise in retail stocks was the further slowing of spot sales, with the trading volume of construction steel including rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 traders Mysteel monitors slipping by another 1.4% or 1,707 tonnes/day on week over January 11-17 to average a mere 119,622 t/d.

"Steel demand in the local market shrank significantly this week as some construction companies had already suspended work to let workers return to their hometowns for the festive celebrations, while just a few building contractors speeded up construction with the (Lunar) year-end approaching," said a source in Guangzhou, the provincial capital of South China's Guangdong.

The inventories of finished steel products in Mysteel's former smaller sample in just 35 cities rose for the fourth week, swelling by another 3.4% or 327,300 t on week to 9.9 mnt as of 18 January.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with an article exchange agreement between SteelMint and Mysteel Global.