Chinese mills' steel stocks fall slightly on steady sales
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Stocks of the five major finished steel products at China's 184 steel mills slipped for the third consecutive week though by 0.4% on week over September 10-16, as the consumption among the end-users inched up with the pleasant weather in most of China, offsetting the slightly higher production, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
Total stocks of the five major items comprising rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coil and medium plate at the surveyed mills' yards slid to 6.66 million tonnes as of September 16, with the on-week decline less than the 1.2% drop over the prior week, as steel mills' finished steel output saw some recovery during that period.
Over September 10-16, total production of the five steel products among the surveyed steelmakers reversed up slightly after one-week retreat, rising 0.4% on week to 10.97 million tonnes, Mysteel's survey showed, indicating that the steady demand from end-users in the traditional peak season for steel consumption over September-October.
Inventories of the five major steel products at the commercial warehouses in China's 132 cities also eased further over September 11-17 by 0.7% on week to 22.85 million tonnes, the weekly survey showed.
"Domestic steel demand is not bad for the time being, though it is not as strong as the market has expected," a Shanghai market source commented.
Mysteel's daily survey among 237 trading houses across China showed that their daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil averaged 221,927 tonnes/day over September 11-17, or up 8,661 t/d or 4.1%on week.
The general steady domestic steel market, however, had failed to balance the pressure of the market dissatisfaction, and the China's national price of HRB 400 20mm dia rebar, an indicator of domestic steel market sentiment, still fell Yuan 36/tonne ($5.3/t)on week to Yuan 3,796/t including the 13% VAT as of September 17, according to Mysteel's assessment, also due to the waning in the iron ore prices over the period.
Table 1 Five major steel products inventories at mills (Sept 10-16)
| Product | Volume ('000 t) | WoW (%) | MoM (%) | YoY (%) |
| Rebar | 3,552.80 | -0.8% | -3.3% | 58.5% |
| Wire rod | 704.40 | 2.6% | -4.7% | 23.5% |
| HR sheet | 1,197.60 | -0.7% | 0.5% | 21.3% |
| CR sheet | 294.30 | -4.5% | -7.5% | 5.5% |
| Medium plate | 912.80 | 0.4% | -1.6% | 23.3% |
| Total | 6,661.90 | -0.4% | -2.8% | 38.2% |
Table 2 Five major steel products inventories at traders (Sept 11-17)
| Product | Volume (million t) | WoW (%) | MoM (%) | YoY (%) |
| Rebar | 12.33 | -1.6% | 0.6% | - |
| Wire rod | 3.21 | -3.0% | -4.7% | - |
| HR sheet | 3.70 | 3.7% | 8.7% | - |
| CR sheet | 1.65 | 0.1% | -1.6% | - |
| Medium plate | 1.95 | -0.4% | 1.3% | - |
| Total | 22.85 | -0.7% | 0.9% | - |
Note: Mysteel has started publishing the new set of data regarding traders' steel inventories since March 19 to better represent the market with bigger sample sizes, and the on-year comparisons will be filled up when feasible.
Rebar and wire rod: Sample size is increased to 429 warehouses in 132 Chinese cities from the previous 215 warehouses in 35 cities.
Hot-rolled coil (HRC): Sample size is increased to 194 warehouses in 55 cities from the previous 138 warehouses in 33 cities.
Cold-rolled coil (CRC): Sample size is increased to 182 warehouses in 29 cities from the previous 134 warehouses in 26 cities.
Medium plate: Sample size is increased to 217 warehouses in 65 cities from the previous 132 warehouses in 31 cities.
- The article has been published under the article exchange agreement with Mysteel.
