Retail stocks of the five major carbon steel items stockpiled in traders' commercial warehouses across China that Mysteel regularly checks began mounting again during the week of July 17-23 after the previous week's slide, the results of Mysteel's latest weekly survey showed.

As of July 23, the total inventories of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil (CRC) and medium plate held by traders in the 132 cities Mysteel monitors had edged up by 0.6% or by 118,200 tonnes on week to 19.19 million tonnes, the survey results showed.

Stocks of rebar, wire rod and medium plates posted on-week gains, with those of rebar and wire rod contributing the most to the inventory build by volume, the survey results indicated.

Specifically, rebar inventories rose by 1.2% or by 94,800 tonnes on week to 7.83 million tonnes, and stocks of wire rod had climbed by 1.9% or 33,500 tonnes on week to 1.82 million tonnes as of the same day.

The rise in stocks was symptomatic of weakening market fundamentals where recovering finished-product output met subdued end-user demand, Mysteel Global noted.

Combined output of the five carbon steel items increased during the survey period after dropping for the previous two weeks, with the tonnage produced by the 137 steel mills under Mysteel's tracking mounting by 1.4% or 116,100 tonnes to 8.37 million tonnes over July 16-22.

On the demand front, heatwaves and frequent storms swept large areas of China during the week, hampering work on outdoor construction projects and keeping most end-users and traders cautious about replenishing finished steel stocks, Mysteel Global pointed out.

As such, spot transactions kept hovering low throughout the week. For instance, the combined daily trading volume of construction steel comprising rebar, wire rod and bar-in-coil among the 237 trading houses nationwide under Mysteel's tracking declined on week during July 16-22 to average 82,913 tonnes/day, albeit by a tiny 0.8% or 645 t/d.

During the week, the national price of HRB400E 20mm dia rebar was at Yuan 3,277/tonne ($484/t) on July 22, down by Yuan 13/t from July 15, while the average price of Q235 4.75mm HRC nationwide had dropped by a larger Yuan 29/t on week to sit at Yuan 3,304/t on the same day, according to Mysteel's assessments.

Meanwhile, finished steel inventories held by traders in Mysteel's smaller sample of 35 cities also climbed slightly this week, with the tonnage amounting to 11.79 million tonnes as of July 23, edging up by 0.8% or by 98,800 tonnes from July 16.