SHANGHAI, Oct 26 (SMM) – Stocks of hot-rolled coil (HRC) across Chinese steelmakers as of Thursday October 25 stood 1.1% lower than the same period last year as mills were keen to release cargoes after the National Day holiday, SMM research found.

Over the week ended October 25, HRC inventories across steelmakers shrank 76,000 mt, or 7.5%, to stand at 939,600 mt while stocks across social warehouses gained 8,000 mt, or 0.3%, to 2.45 million mt. Social inventories have increased for the sixth straight week, suggesting that buyers still stood on sidelines, and the latest figure was up 12.1% from a year earlier.

Overall HRC inventories that include in-plant and social volumes decreased 68,000 mt, or 2%, over the week to come in at 3.39 million mt. The overall figure notched an 8.1% year-over-year growth, 2.1 percentage points smaller than the increase in the previous week, which reflects improved fundamentals.

HRC social inventories continued to grow as cargoes were depleted at a slow pace amid weak-than-expected demand from manufacturing this year. Such sluggish demand also sidelined speculative traders and kept the market relatively steady.