As of February 29 this year, overall domestic inventories of the five main finished steel products in 20 cities of China totaled 19.05 million mt, up 1.7 million mt or 9.8 percent compared to February 20 and rising by 10.93 million mt or 134.6 percent month on month, while increasing by 12.23 million mt or 179.3 percent compared to the end of December 2019, according to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
In particular, as of February 29, domestic inventories of hot rolled coil (HRC), cold rolled coil (CRC) and common medium plate in China amounted to 2.69 million mt, 1.66 million mt and 1.39 million mt, increasing by 6.5 percent, 5.8 percent and 8.5 percent compared to February 20, respectively. Rebar stocks rose at the fastest pace, up 12.7 percent to 9.49 million mt. At the same time, wire rod inventories totalled 3.82 million mt, up 7.4 percent compared to February 20.