SHANGHAI, Jul 19 (SMM) – China's inventories of rebar accumulated for the third consecutive week as of Thursday July 18 as poor consumption and greater deliveries to east China grew stocks.  

Higher steel prices in the eastern markets moved rebar products to the east. This, together with slower growth in consumption, expanded social inventories across eastern warehouses.  

Downstream purchases of rebar cooled for most of this week, after upbeat macroeconomic data bolstered trades on Monday. The average price of rebar fell 11.9 yuan/mt from a week ago and stood at 4,050.5 yuan/mt. 

Rebar mills outside the cutback-affected areas of Tangshan and Wu’an continued to operate at full capacity. 

However, SMM expects pressure from high supplies to ease in the short term as higher iron ore prices cut margins at steel mills and as more, potential environmental curbs.  

SMM data showed that overall inventories of rebar, including stocks across steelmakers and social warehouses, grew 3% on the week and posted 8.31 million mt as of Thursday July 18, after they grew 2.2% in the prior week. On a yearly basis, inventories stood 28.9% higher, expanding from a growth of 23.2% last week.

As of July 18, inventories across social warehouses stood at 5.93 million mt, up 2.8% on the week, accelerating from a buildup of 0.5% a week ago.

Inventories across steel plants advanced 3.4% on the week, to stand at 2.38 million mt, slowing from a 6.8% rise a week earlier.