Rebar inventories drop steadily as consumers stockpile after holiday

SHANGHAI, Apr 12 (SMM) – China's inventories of rebar across social warehouses and steel mills continued to shrink in the week ended Thursday April 11, the week after the Qingming Festival holiday, as downstream consumers stockpiled after breaks.  

Domestic trades volume of long steel, including rebar and wire rods, rose to the highest since CNY, at 331,000 mt on Monday April 8. Trading activities cooled in the latter half of the week as higher prices sidelined downstream buyers.

SMM data showed that overall inventories, including social and in-plant stocks, shrank to 9.58 million mt as of Thursday April 11, down 7.3% on the week, and down 9.6% from a lunar year earlier. 

As of April 11, inventories across steel mills stood at 2.02 million mt, down 10.1% from a week ago and down 27.6% from a lunar year ago. Social stocks also declined by 6.5% on the week and by 3.1% on the year to stand at 7.55 million mt as of April 11.