Market Sentiment Sluggish, Building Material Social Inventory Continued to Accumulate This Period

Published: Jul 30, 2026 10:28

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Building material social inventory: According to the SMM survey, the total social inventory of building materials continued to accumulate this period. As of July 30, 2026, the SMM building material social inventory stood at 5.6745 million mt, with a WoW inventory buildup of 59,000 mt, an increase of 1.05%, and the accumulation pace slightly accelerated from the previous week. Mainly, during the survey period, futures kept falling, leading to a strong wait-and-see sentiment in the market, coupled with hot and rainy weather, which slightly hindered the construction progress at downstream sites.
Regional social inventory: Currently, inventory performance across regions continued to diverge. Among them, overall inventory in east China shifted from a decline to an increase, with Shanghai seeing a relatively fast buildup pace. On the one hand, arrivals of resources from surrounding steel mills increased; on the other hand, regional warehousing policies were adjusted during the survey period, leading to low trading enthusiasm. In addition, Shandong’s prices were among the highest in the country recently, causing a large influx of external materials. South China’s inventory slightly decreased this period, mainly because the operating time of local electric furnace mills declined during the survey period, reducing supply. North China’s inventory continued to accumulate, mainly due to a sluggish trading atmosphere, with downstream rigid demand purchases also low, resulting in inventory staying high. Northwest China’s inventory continued to destock, mainly because some locally produced resources were shipped to the east China market, reducing the resources arriving at the local market. Other regions basically saw normal inventory buildup.

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