Finished steel inventories at Chinese trading warehouses fell by 3% or 623,500 tonnes over March 21-27, marking the fourth consecutive weekly decline, according to Mysteel. Total inventories of rebar, wire rod, hot-rolled coil (HRC), cold-rolled coil, and medium plate reached 19.9 million tonnes, the lowest in 1.5 months.

HRC stocks saw the largest drop, thinning by 175,800 tonnes to a nearly two-month low of 4.3 million tonnes. Rebar inventories also decreased by 165,700 tonnes to a one-month low of 8.9 million tonnes. This aligns with increased sales, with daily trading volumes of rebar, wire rod, and bar-in-coil rising by 12.1% during March 20-26 to an average of 120,352 tonnes per day.

Despite the decline in inventories, analysts caution that steel demand growth remains slower than expected due to weak market fundamentals. Retail steel stocks were 27.3% lower than the same period last year. Inventories in a smaller sample across 35 cities also dropped for the fourth week, decreasing by 2.8% or 356,300 tonnes to 12.5 million tonnes, a 1.5-month low.