This week, the social steel stocks in China were 140.13 million tons, down 47,000 tons on a week-on-week basis. Among them, wire rods were the fastest-declining varieties in inventory, with a decrease of about 59,000 tons on a week-on-week basis. The existing rebar stocks were 5.477 million tons, up 22,000 tons on a week-on-week basis; hot-rolled steel stocks were 4.224 million tons, up 14,000 tons on a week-on-week basis; plates of moderate thickness in stock were 1.504 million tons, down by 0.1 million tons on a week-on-week basis; and the cold-rolled steel in stock were 1.636 million tons, down by 22,000 tons on a week-on-week basis.

House prices are rising too fast, second- and third-tier cities will adopt restrictions on purchases; the central bank will withdraw funds for the first time for nine weeks, and the funds will remain tight in the third quarter; the EU will conduct anti-dumping investigations on Chinese, Russian and Turkish hot rolls; Rio Tinto expects iron ore output in the second half of the year will increase; India’s rainy season will lead to a 4% drop in China’s brass sheet imports in June; Baotou Steel Group’s 5 million tons of sheet metal project will be opened in March; DCE is planning to launch coking coal futures, and delivery land may be in North China.

However, BHP Billiton’s zinc production fell 23% year-on-year in the previous fiscal year, and diamond production fell 18%. Coal production also experienced a 13% year-on-year decline due to Australia’s extreme weather.