In early February (February 1-10) this year, overall domestic inventories of the five main finished steel products in 20 cities of China totaled 11.34 million mt, up 1.61 million mt or 16.5 percent compared to late January.
In particular, as of February 10, domestic inventories of hot rolled coil (HRC), cold rolled coil (CRC) and common medium plate amounted to 1.55 million mt, 1.05 million mt and 1.11 million mt, up 9.9 percent, 2.9 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively. At the same time, stocks of longs products jumped by double-digit numbers as construction sites stopped work earlier ahead of the long holiday this year. Wire rod and rebar inventories were 2.04 million mt and 5.59 million mt on February 10, up by 17.9 percent and 22.6 percent, respectively, compared to January 31.