On October 20 this year, overall domestic inventories of the five main finished steel products in 21 major cities in China totaled 8.62 million mt, down 410,000 mt or 4.5 percent compared to September 30, as announced by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA). The decline was due to the slowdown in production seen since late September in China.
In particular, as of October 20, domestic inventories of hot rolled coil (HRC), cold rolled coil (CRC), common medium plate, wire rod and rebar amounted to 1.89 million mt, 1.23 million mt, 0.98 million mt, 1.02 million mt and 3.5 million mt, down 2.6 percent, 4.7 percent, 1.0 percent, 12.8 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively, all compared to September 30.