China’s hot-rolled coil stocks rise for first time in five weeks

SHANGHAI, Sep 21 (SMM) – After shrinking for four consecutive weeks, stocks of hot-rolled coil (HRC) across in-plant and social warehouses in China grew this week amid increases in social inventories, SMM research found.

Overall HRC inventories, including social and in-plant volumes, nudged up 0.1% over the week ended Thursday September 20 to stand at 3.16 million mt, up 5.1% on the year, SMM data showed.

Stocks across social warehouses increased 1% to 2.17 million mt, standing 0.5% higher than the same period last year, as 78,000 mt of cargoes that was produced by Shagang for delivery flowed into the Zhangjiagang market in Jiangsu province. Social inventories currently stay at low levels.

Inventories across steelmakers decreased 1.8% to 995,300 mt, up 16.7% on a yearly basis as mills lowered their offers to offload cargoes ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holiday.