China's retail steel stocks drop for four weeks

Total stocks of five major carbon steel products - rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate - piled at commercial warehouses in 132 Chinese cities declined further over November 7-13, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.

The stockpiles moved down by 1.2% or 209,600 tonnes on week to 17.09 million tonnes as of November 13, marking declines for four weeks straight, the survey results showed. Although compared with the year-ago level, the volume was still 21.8% higher, suggesting certain inventory pressure among steel traders.

Among these five steel items, stocks of rebar and CRC recorded clear declines this week. Specifically, 6.2 million tonnes of rebar stocks as of November 13 were down by 2.2% or 136,700 tonnes from a week prior, while CRC stocks also thinned by 1.9% or 44,700 tonnes on week to 2.29 million tonnes by the same day.

The destocking was primarily driven by further retreats in mills' steel output lately, which outpaced the slowdown in demand, according to Mysteel's weekly report.

The combined output of these five finished steel items among the 137 steel mills under Mysteel's coverage totalled 8.34 million tonnes over November 6-12, down by a larger 223,600 tonnes or 2.6% on week, as compared to the 185,500-t drop seen in the previous week.

On the other hand, the apparent consumption of the five major steel products during the same survey week fell by 0.7% on week to 8.6 million tonnes, according to Mysteel's tracking.

The easing supply pressure also provided some support for finished steel prices. Mysteel's assessment of the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar came in at Yuan 3,232/tonne ($454/t) on November 12, up by Yuan 15/t from November 5.

Similarly, as of November 13, finished steel stocks held by traders in Mysteel's smaller sample across just 35 cities declined as well, sliding by 1.3% or 136,100 tonnes on week to 10.61 million tonnes.

Source:Mysteel Global