In mid-January (January 11-20) this year, overall domestic inventories of the five main finished steel products in 20 major cities of China totaled 8.35 million mt, up 640,000 mt or 8.3 percent compared to early January.
In particular, as of January 20, domestic inventories of hot rolled coil (HRC), cold rolled coil (CRC) and common medium plate amounted to 1.39 million mt, 1.01 million mt and 0.95 million mt, up 4.5 percent, 3.1 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, compared to January 10. The surge in long products inventories was even bigger. Stocks of wire rod and rebar reached 1.37 million mt and 3.63 million mt, showing 15.1 percent and 11.0 percent hikes, respectively, compared to January 10.