German stocks reach 2015 level in May, sales up

Inventories at German steel stockholders have reached just over last year’s level at 2.4 million metric tons in May (up 0.6% year-on-year), after being below 2015 levels all year, according to latest figures from the stockholders’ association Bundesverband Deutscher Stahlhandel (BDS), which show a continuing uptick in restocking activity since January.

Whereas long products stocks fell by 1.8% year-on-year to 866,499 mt, flat products went up by 2% y-o-y to 1.5 million mt. Sales volume from distributors continued the upward trend, showing an increase compared to the same month last year of 8.5% to 883,471 mt, and a 7.4% drop in total in month-on-month comparison.

Flat product sales grew by 9.7% y-o-y to 507,701 mt, but fell in m-o-m comparison by 8.6%. Long products went up by 7.8% y-o-y, but fell by 6% m-o-m to 284,953 mt.

According to Platts’ monthly German steel sentiment survey, published Wednesday, traders, service centres and stockholders gave a bearish outlook for Q3 regarding buying demand as well as price stability.

— Laura Varriale