Inventories of the five major carbon steel products held by the Chinese steel mills sampled in Mysteel's regular survey declined over April 10-16 to 4.71 million tonnes, slipping for the fifth consecutive week by 1.8% on week.

The five major steel items comprise rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil and medium plate. During the survey period, inventories of the long steel items continued declining, offsetting the slight accumulation in inventories of flats, the findings showed.

The continuous fall was mainly attributed to the lower output among Chinese steel mills and the further improvement in spot steel sales with the replenishment of end-users, Mysteel Global learned.

Over April 9-15, total production of the five major steel items among the sampled steelmakers came in at 8.55 million tonnes, down slightly by 0.4% on week after the rises during the prior two weeks.

However, the decline in mills' total inventories narrowed further this week compared to the fall of 2% the previous week, as end-user demand fell short of market expectations.  April is usually a strong month for steel consumption in China but so far, business this month is proving rather dull.

Mysteel's other survey showed that over April 9-15, the daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses nationwide under its tracking averaged 105,813 tonnes/day, staying low despite the on-week rise of 6,727 t/d.

Meanwhile, China's finished steel prices recovered slightly this week with the improved transactions in the physical market and the firm prices in the futures market.

On April 15, Mysteel assessed the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar at Yuan 3,330/tonne ($488/t) including the 13% VAT, edging up Yuan 8/t from one week before, while that of Q235 4.75mm HRC nationwide under Mysteel's assessment had increased by Yuan 7/t on week to reach Yuan 3,321/t including the 13% VAT.

Inventories of the five major steel products at traders' warehouses in the 132 Chinese cities monitored by Mysteel dipped lower again during April 10-16, with the total tonnage falling by 2.5% on week to 21.71 million tonnes. However, the tonnage was 21.5% higher compared with one year earlier, pointing to the pressure that the domestic steel market is under.

Source:Mysteel Global