SHANGHAI, Dec 3 (SMM)—Inventories of hot-rolled coils of steel sheets used to produce home appliances and cars in China shrank sharply this week, and the decline expanded significantly compared with the previous week, as some steel makers shifted to produce other products or overhauled rolling lines and as end-user demand was strong this week.

SMM data showed that HRC stocks across social warehouses and steel makers fell 207,000 mt or 6.23% on the week, but remained 24.06% higher than a year ago, to 3.12 million mt in the week ended December 3, after a 3.67% loss in the previous week.

Source: SMM

Inventories across social warehouses dropped 130,100 mt or 5.64% week on week to 2.18 million mt. This was 28.68% higher than the same period last year.

Source: SMM

Stocks at Chinese steel makers came in at 938,500 mt, down 76,900 mt or 7.57% week on week, but rose 14.53% year on year.