On May 20 this year, overall domestic inventories of the five main finished steel products in 20 major cities in China totaled 11.87 million mt, down 0.62 million mt or 5.0 percent compared to May 10, as announced by the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA).
This happened mainly owing to lower longs inventories in the market against the backdrop of healthy demand.
In particular, as of May 20, domestic inventories of wire rod and rebar totaled 2.11 million mt and 6.08 million mt, down 9.4 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, compared to May 10. At the same time, stocks of hot rolled coil (HRC) and common medium plate amounted to 1.59 million mt and 0.97 million mt, up 1.3 percent and up 2.1 percent, respectively, compared to May 10. Inventories of cold rolled coil (CRC) were at 1.12 million mt, down 0.9 percent in the given period.