SHANGHAI, Apr 12 (SMM) – Inventories of hot-rolled coil (HRC) across social warehouses and steel mills in China fell for a seventh straight week this week, reflecting upbeat fundamentals.

In the ninth week after the Chinese New Year holiday, overall HRC stocks declined 4.2% from a week ago to stand at 3.14 million mt as of Thursday April 11, down 6.9% from a lunar year ago, SMM data showed.

Social stocks shrank 4.5% to 2.21 million mt for the same week, standing 7.6% lower than the same period after CNY 2018. Current social inventory figure is lower than the average level of 2.24 million mt for the whole 2018.

Stocks across steel mills decreased by 3.5% and came in at 927,900 mt, down 5.2% on a lunar year basis.

The weekly average price of spot HRC in China rose 85 yuan/mt from the prior week to stand at 3,974 yuan/mt this week.

While trades after a brisk performance earlier in the week, market participants remained cautiously optimistic.