According to SMM, a zinc smelter in south-west China postponed its originally scheduled early June maintenance recovery to mid-to-late June for production resumptions, as equipment materials had not yet arrived at the plant. Current production has been reduced to approximately one-third.

Recently, the Construction Department of the Ministry of Finance published the "Notice of the Ministry of Finance on Allocating the Budget for Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Subsidy Funds in 2026 (First Batch)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") on its official website, which specifically disclosed the disbursement of reward funds for the fourth-year fuel cell vehicle demonstration application. This marked that China's four-year fuel cell vehicle demonstration period has entered the final settlement stage, drawing a phased conclusion to this round of demonstration application work. According to the content specified in the Notice, the fourth-year fuel cell vehicle demonstration application reward amounted to approximately 2.57 billion yuan , covering 15 provincial-level administrative regions and 39 cities (districts). This was the final disbursement with the highest reward amount and the broadest coverage across the four-year demonstration period, fully reflecting the state's sustained support for the fuel cell vehicle industry and demonstrating the remarkable achievements of this round of demonstration application. It was reported that, as of the disclosure of the fourth-year reward funds, the cumulative reward amount over the four-year demonstration period reached approximately 7.68 billion yuan. Notably, the demonstration list exhibited significant dynamic adjustment characteristics: Guangdong and Anhui, after being absent from the second- and third-year reward lists, successfully returned to the list in the fourth year; provinces such as Shanxi, Liaoning, and Xinjiang joined the reward list in the final year of the demonstration period, further expanding the demonstration coverage and promoting the deployment of fuel cell vehicle technology in more regions. Specific fund allocation revealed significant disparities in demonstration performance among provinces and cities, with a prominent leading effect at the top. Guangdong Province ranked first nationwide with a reward amount of 1.0493 billion yuan, accounting for 40.8% of the total reward in this round; its subordinate city Guangzhou secured 924.9 million yuan in rewards, leading all cities nationwide. Henan Province followed closely with 438.98 million yuan, accounting for 17.1% of the total reward and ranking second nationwide, while Zhengzhou received 358.16 million yuan, second only to Guangzhou. The combined reward amount of Guangdong and Henan accounted for nearly 58%, highlighting their demonstration leadership role and making them the core benchmarks of this round of demonstration application. In addition, Foshan (120.92 million yuan), Tangshan (98.44 million yuan), and Lvliang (219.61 million yuan) emerged as exemplary representatives among prefecture-level cities with their outstanding demonstration performance. According to the subsidy rules for fuel cell vehicle demonstration city clusters, each of the five demonstration city clusters had a reward cap of 1.7 billion yuan over the four-year demonstration period, with the reward amount eligible for a maximum 10% increase to 1.87 billion yuan if demonstration tasks were exceeded. Based on this calculation, the theoretical total subsidy cap for the four-year demonstration period ranged from 8.5 billion to 9.35 billion yuan. Using the standard reward cap of 8.5 billion yuan, the cumulative four-year reward amount disclosed this time reached 90.4% of the cap, fully demonstrating that the demonstration city clusters achieved a high overall completion rate with significant progress toward demonstration targets. In terms of cumulative four-year reward amounts, the top five cities were Shanghai (approximately 1.22 billion yuan), Beijing (approximately 1.17 billion yuan), Tangshan (approximately 1.12 billion yuan), Zhengzhou (approximately 1.08 billion yuan), and Guangzhou (approximately 980 million yuan). These cities, leveraging their well-established industrial layouts and mature application scenarios, served as the core bases of this round of demonstration application, accumulating valuable experience for the large-scale development of China's fuel cell vehicle industry. It was reported that the settlement of fuel cell vehicle demonstration application reward and subsidy funds is an important component of energy conservation and emission reduction subsidy funds. According to the previously amended "Interim Measures for the Management of Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction Subsidy Funds" by the Ministry of Finance, the fuel cell vehicle demonstration application policy concluded at the end of 2025, with the settlement period extended to 2027. This fourth-year reward fund disclosure was a key step in the settlement process. The timely disbursement of these reward funds will further stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises to participate in the development of the fuel cell vehicle industry, promote coordinated upgrading across the industry chain, and inject sustained momentum into the high-quality development of China's hydrogen energy and fuel cell vehicle industry.

Dear User, Greetings! As the global energy structure transformation continues to deepen, the PV industry has entered a new phase of large-scale expansion and high-quality iterative development, with diversified technology routes and varied module categories becoming normalized features of industry development. Affected by long-term profitability under pressure across the industry and wild swings in upstream raw and auxiliary material prices, the weight of cost factors in the pricing mechanism of the PV module market has continued to increase. To accurately characterize the cost levels of various segmented technology routes, further enhance market price transparency and horizontal comparability, effectively alleviate information asymmetry in the industry, and optimize market transaction efficiency, SMM, after thorough industry survey and optimization of its index system, will officially launch three new PV module cost index price points for TOPCon, BC, and HJT starting from April 30, 2026. The price points released this time are intended for upstream and downstream enterprises to reference current module cost fluctuations, providing market participants with a cost-based pricing reference. Details are as follows: Price Point Names: TOPCon183 PV Module Cost Index TOPCon210 PV Module Cost Index TOPCon210R PV Module Cost Index BC210R PV Module Cost Index HJT210 PV Module Cost Index Price Description: Price Type: PV Module Cost Index Price Description: Module enterprises are classified into three types — integrated, semi-integrated, and specialized. The cost index is calculated by weighting the production proportions of the three enterprise types from the previous quarter, with weights updated quarterly. The accounting scope of this cost index model covers full costs, including fixed asset depreciation, three categories of period expenses, and other related expenditures. Unit: Yuan/W Release Time: 12:00 PM Beijing time on the fifth business day of each week; released earlier in the event of holidays. SMM PV Research Team Apr 2026

[PV Express] Tongwei Co., Ltd. (600438) announced on February 24 that the company is planning to acquire a 100% equity stake in Lihao Qingneng through the issuance of shares and payment in cash, and to raise supporting funds. This transaction is not expected to result in a change of the company's controlling shareholder or actual controller, does not constitute a connected transaction, and is anticipated not to constitute a major asset restructuring. As the transaction is still in the planning stage and relevant matters remain uncertain, upon the company's application, trading of the company's shares, convertible bonds, and convertible bond conversion will be suspended starting from the market opening on February 25, 2026, with the suspension period expected not to exceed 10 trading days. Lihao was established in April 2021 and is primarily engaged in the R&D, production, and sales of semiconductor materials such as PV-grade high-purity polysilicon and electronic-grade polysilicon. Data shows that Qinghai Lihao currently has a polysilicon capacity of approximately 150,000 mt/year.

During the survey period (January 20–26), the operating rate of rebar rolling lines in steel mills in the Central China region declined, while the capacity utilization rate increased slightly; both the operating rate and capacity utilization rate of wire rod rolling lines remained stable.

SMM Morning Meeting Minutes: LME copper opened at $13,082/mt overnight, fluctuated upward initially and touched a high of $13,162.5/mt, then the price center dropped sharply to a low of $12,928/mt, before fluctuating upward again and finally closing at $13,148.5/mt, down 1.14%, with trading volume at 31,800 lots and open interest at 326,000 lots, an increase of 2,579 lots from the previous session, indicating increased selling by bears. The most-traded SHFE copper contract 2603 opened at 103,030 yuan/mt overnight, touched a high of 103,180 yuan/mt at the beginning of the session, then the price center dropped sharply to a low of 101,220 yuan/mt, before fluctuating upward and finally closing at 102,860 yuan/mt, down 0.23%, with trading volume at 130,000 lots and open interest at 231,000 lots, a decrease of 4,462 lots from the previous session, indicating reduced buying by bulls.