China's steel mills rise another 2.1%

Inventories of five major finished steel products at 184 Chinese steel companies weekly hosted by Mysteel continued to rise during August 20-26 due to slowing end-user demand, with tonnage increasing another 2.1% in the third week. week before According to the weekly research Mysteel, about 7 million tons.

The five main items include rebar, wire rod, hot rolled coil, cold rolled coil and plate . Steel production has remained relatively high lately, given that mills still have acceptable margins, while domestic traders have slowed down their warehousing rates and have taken a wait and see attitude given moderate demand from end users. said a market source in Shanghai. As a result, plant inventories have increased, he told Mysteel Global.

According to the survey, from 20 to 26 August, the total production of the five main steel products among the surveyed steel companies reached 10.91 million tonnes, almost at the same level as a week earlier, or recorded an increase of 4.7% over the previous year. ...

Steel demand in China remained moderate last week. Mysteel's poll of 237 trading houses across China showed that the daily trading volume of construction steel, including rebar, wire rod and wire rod, averaged 208,831 tonnes per day between August 20 and 26, up 9,675 tonnes per day or 4. 3%. a week ago.

Thus, the stocks of the five main types of metal products in commercial warehouses in 132 cities rose in the second week to 22.8 million tons from August 21 to 27. According to another Mysteel study, weekly gains increased to 0.5% from 0.2% in the previous week.

Market participants expect end-user demand to improve in the upcoming peak steel consumption season as the weather turns comfortably cool in most parts of China. However, high stocks at both Chinese steelmakers and traders have somewhat lowered steel prices on the domestic market, Mysteel Global notes.

For example, the national price of HRB 400 rebar with a diameter of 20 mm in China, which is an indicator of domestic steel market sentiment, fell to 3831 yuan /ton ($ 556 /ton), including 13% VAT, as of the end of August, down 20 yuan per ton. week, according to Mysteel.