Retail stocks of the five major carbon steel items held by the Chinese traders that Mysteel regularly checks fell faster during September 11-17, according to the results of Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
As of September 17, the combined inventories of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate held by traders in the 132 cities Mysteel monitors had declined by 2% or by 372,600 tonnes on week to 18.5 million tonnes, the survey results revealed. The rate at which the traders cleared their stocks was faster than last week's 1.6% on-week decline, as Mysteel Global reported.
By product, stocks of rebar, wire rod, HRC and medium plate all posted on-week falls, while those of CRC ticked up moderately this week. Rebar and HRC stocks recorded the steepest drops, the survey results show.
Specifically, as of September 17 total rebar stocks had thinned by 3.5% or 271,300 tonnes on week to 7.4 million tonnes, while inventories of HRC had slipped by 1.6% or 75,600 tonnes on week to 4.78 million tonnes.
Restocking demand among end-users ahead of China's Mid-Autumn festival and National Day holidays (over September 25-27 and October 1-7 respectively) had helped to trim retail inventories during the survey week, Mysteel Global noted.
For example, the combined tonnage of rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil traded among the 237 trading houses nationwide under Mysteel's tracking had increased steadily from 85,123 tonnes/day on September 10 to 109,322 t/d on September 16.
On the other hand, most steelmakers still maintained their production pace at a relatively low level due to wide losses, Mysteel's tracking showed.
Combined production of the five steel products among the 137 steelmakers under Mysteel's coverage stood largely steady during September 10-16 at 7.94 million tonnes, nudging up by a tiny 0.01% on week.
However, this still failed to reverse the downtrend seen in domestic finished steel prices this week. Mysteel assessed the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar on September 16 at Yuan 3,322/tonne ($495/t) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 27/t on week, while the average price of Q235B 4.75mm HRC registered Yuan 3,332/t on the same day, dropping by Yuan 36/t on week.
Meanwhile, finished steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel's smaller sample of 35 cities also recorded an on-week dip, with the tonnage sliding by 1.4% to total 11.46 million tonnes as of September 17.
Source:Mysteel Global
