SHANGHAI, Jun 21 (SMM) – Social inventories of hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China expanded for a fourth straight week this week, showed an SMM survey, adding pressure over spot prices.

HRC stocks across social warehouses rose 1.5% from a week ago to stand at 2.23 million mt as of Thursday June 20, up 9.3% from a year ago.

After two consecutive weeks of declines, HRC stocks across steel mills also gained this week, due to an easing of restocking that was spurred by lower prices and the government’s infrastructure spending push.

In-plant stocks came in at 905,800 mt as of June 20, up 2% from a week ago, but down 9.4% from a year ago. A continued year-over-year decline in in-plant stocks offered some relief.

Profit margins that mills currently could see on HRC dropped 92-93% from the same period last year, which drove plants to curb production.

Overall HRC inventories in China stood at 3.14 million mt as of June 20, up 1.7% week on week and 3.1% year on year.