German stocks stable in August, sales up

Inventories at German stockholders remained stable at 2.4 million metric tons in August compared to the same time last year, while sales went up 3.5% year-on-year to 896,544 mt, according to latest figures from the stockholders’ association Bundesverband Deutscher Stahlhandel (BDS).

In a month-on-month comparison, stocks fell by 2.8% in August, whereas sales grew by 5.2%, indicating an uptick in market activity towards the end of the summer holidays. As reported, stocks in July grew slightly by 0.9% m-o-m, whereas sales fell by 13.6%, reflecting market developments at the beginning of the summer when activity started to slow.

Stocks of long products grew by 8% y-o-y to 858,396 mt, while flat product fell slightly by 0.7% y-o-y to 1.4 million mt. Sales of long products showed a 1% y-o-y decline to 289,820 mt. Sales of flat products went up by 11.3% y-o-y to 828,346 mt.

Laura Varriale, PLATTS