Declines in hot-rolled coil inventories accelerate as tax cuts bolster demand

Published: Mar 22, 2019 10:48

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Inventories stood at 3.5 million mt as of Mar 21, down 4% from a week ago

SHANGHAI, Mar 22 (SMM) – Inventories of hot-rolled coil (HRC) across social warehouses and steel mills in China fell faster in the sixth week after the Chinese New Year holiday as purchases improved ahead of the value-added tax cut on April 1

Such improving fundamentals are set to support HRC prices.

SMM data showed overall HRC inventories stood at 3.5 million mt as of Thursday March 21, down 4% from a week ago and 7% from the same period after 2018’s CNY break.

Overall stocks have declined for four consecutive weeks and lost 1.1% in the week ended March 14.

This week, HRC stocks across social warehouses dropped for a third week to stand at 2.53 million mt as of Thursday, down 8.4% from a lunar year ago.

Stocks across mills lost 4% to 976,300 mt after expanding 1.9% in the previous week. On a lunar year basis, HRC in-plant inventories decreased by 3%.

Inventory data Hot-rolled coil HRC Steel

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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