This week, the copper scrap market operated under the interweaving influences of fluctuating copper prices, the approaching Dragon Boat Festival holiday, and ongoing compliance inspections on "reverse invoicing," presenting structural characteristics of "regional divergence in supply, essential demand-driven procurement, and transactions driven by invoices rather than prices

Asian stainless steel prices held stable for a third consecutive week, with Chinese Taiwan's export quotes unchanged and Chinese export offers rebounding to steady levels after a brief dip earlier in the month. Raw material trends diverged, LME nickel prices softened while Indonesian NPI gained ground; Chinese domestic ferronickel stabilized and stainless steel futures posted a weekly gain. Trading activity remains quiet during the traditional off-season, though consumption levels are running ahead of the same period last year. A recent Middle East peace accord helped nickel prices bounce back, pointing to a firm short-term market trend.

[Imported Zinc Concentrate Market] Overseas ore supply disruptions have persisted recently. Offers for imported ore remained scarce this week, with some heard quoted at around -$80 to -$90/dmt, but smelters held a strong wait-and-see sentiment, keeping overall trading activity sluggish during the week.

[Silicon metal futures fluctuate narrowly, spot market largely stable]: Downstream and trader procurement sentiment is cautious, with some users digesting previous low-price inventories. Clients outside China have purchase price expectations lower than current prices, and sentiment for new orders in the market is sluggish. Some users expect to purchase via futures point pricing at around 8,400-8,500 yuan/mt. On the supply side, the increase in operating rates of silicon enterprises in Sichuan and Yunnan during the rainy season is already within expectations, with few new variables in the market. As variables on both supply and demand sides are highly deterministic in the short term, market sentiment in the buyer-seller tug-of-war appears rational. The silicon metal price center is expected to remain near the low end of the range in the near term.

SMM Weekly Stainless Steel Futures Review — week of June 15–18, 2026. A mid-week hawkish Fed turn capped an early rally, but supply tightening and firm mill pricing lifted the SHFE board RMB 355/mt on the week of June 15–19.

In the spot market this week (6.15-6.18), SMM #1 lead prices first rose then fell, continuing to climb during the week before a slight correction ahead of the holiday. With mid-year settlement and the approaching Dragon Boat Festival, downstream stocking willingness was sluggish, purchases at high prices were cautious, and spot order trading was sluggish. By region, smelters in Henan had low inventory and tight spot order supply, while traders’ supply was stably at discounts of 100-150 yuan/mt against the SHFE lead 2607 contract, with sluggish trading; smelters in Hunan quoted premiums of 0-20 yuan on the 15th, turned to discounts of 30-0 yuan on the 17th and 18th, with some cargoes negotiated to a discount of 50 yuan; smelters in Jiangxi and Anhui were unwilling to make significant concessions throughout, only slightly lowering their quotes, with premiums narrowing from 100-150 yuan to 80-100 yuan. Overall, downstream mostly relied on long-term contract purchases, and spot transactions were generally weak this week.