SHANGHAI, Dec 2 (SMM) – SMM data showed that HRC stocks across social warehouses and steel makers declined 54,900 mt or 1.70% on the week, but rose 1.64% from a year ago, to 3.17 million mt in the week ended December 2.
Inventories across social warehouses decreased 26,000 mt or 1.12% to around 2.3 million mt. This was up 5.48% from the same period last year.
The decline in inventory this week is still due to significant declines on the supply side. HRC output fell across many regions of China this week. The decline was significant in north China, especially in Tangshan. This is mainly due to the factors such as environmental protection restrictions in autumn and winter and the Winter Olympics as well as the maintenance at SGJT rolling lines. The output in south China was stable.
Stocks at Chinese steel makers came in at 870,300 mt, down 28,900 mt or 3.21% week on week and 7.26% year on year.
