On May 10 this year, the total domestic inventories of five major finished steel products in China's 21 major cities totaled 10.0 million tons, down 2.2 percent from April 30, 1.4 percentage points slower than the decline rate recorded at the end of April (April 21-30), as announced by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
Continued decline inventories signals that downstream purchases have depleted inventories and that demand after the Labor Day holiday (May 1-5) was quite good as some downstream users needed to restock after the holiday.
Specifically, as of May 10, domestic HRC and CRC inventories rose 0.5 percent and 3.5 percent, while sheet steel, wire rod and medium-sized rebars decreased by 1.8 percent, 6.0 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, compared to April 30.
