As of May 20 this year, overall domestic inventories of the five main finished steel products in 20 cities of China totaled 14.03 million mt, down 0.95 million mt or 6.3 percent compared to that as of May 10, up 7.21 million mt or 105.7 percent compared to that as of the beginning of this year.
In particular, as of May 20, domestic inventories of hot rolled coil (HRC) dropped the most – by 10.0 percent to 2.01 million mt. At the same time, cold rolled coil (CRC) and common medium plate stocks were at 1.43 million mt and 0.84 million mt, down by 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent compared to May 10. Inventories of wire rod and rebar in China amounted 2.81 million mt and 6.93 million mt, decreasing by 2.5 percent and 8.2 percent compared to that as of May 10, respectively, signaling good demand from downstream users.