German steel stocks stable in March, sales rise on month: BDS data

German stockholders said inventories were largely unchanged in March as coronavirus-related lockdowns forced steel market activities to slump, according to data that trade association BDS released Friday.

Stocks fell sharply from year-ago levels, matching the trend seen in February, particularly for flat steel, the stockholder association said. Flat steel saw a 19% year-on-year decrease to 1.2 million mt in March, whereas long steel stocks fell 10% year on year to 814,717 mt.

On a month-on-month basis, the data showed inventories relatively unchanged in flat products, rising 224 mt, and others rose 256 mt, while Long products lost 2,704 mt.

Sales of stocks were up for both long and flat steel stocks year on year, rising 39,923 mt in the long category and 23,494 mt in flat steel products. The other products group saw a sales increase of just 318 mt in March compared with the previous year.

On a month-on-month basis, the data showed sales of stock material for long products rising by 38,894 mt, while flat products stock sales increased by 10,928 mt in March. Stock sales from the other products category increased 7,084 mt in March from February.

— Len Griffin