HRC social inventories continued to fall, but in-plant stocks rebounded

SHANGHAI, Dec 6 (SMM) – Social inventories of hot-rolled coil (HRC) in China trended lower for an eighth consecutive week, but stocks across steelmakers rose after declining for four straight weeks.

SMM data showed that stocks of HRC across social warehouses decreased 2.5% from a week ago to 1.69 million mt as of Thursday December 5. For the same week, in-plant stocks increased 4% to 819,400 mt.

This brought overall HRC inventories in China to 2.51 million mt as of December 5, down 0.5% from a week ago and 11.5% from a year ago.