[Lacking Drivers for Wild Swings, GO Silicon Steel Prices Expected to Run Steadily Next Week] Cold-rolled grain-oriented silicon steel spot prices ran steadily this week, with mainstream quotations remaining firm and overall transactions proceeding in a stable and orderly manner. According to market feedback, although ferrous metals futures fluctuated downward, exerting some pressure on market sentiment, Baosteel's price-firming policy for June—raising the base price of GO silicon steel by 200 yuan/mt and adding an additional 100 yuan/mt for high-grade products rated 75 and above—effectively supported the spot price floor. Traders' quotations were generally stable, with limited willingness to sell at low prices.

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[SMM Analysis] Demand Resilience Persists at Tail End of Peak Season, Stainless Steel Social Inventory Continues Destocking On May 21, SMM reported that stainless steel social inventory continued its mild destocking trend this week. Total inventory across the two core markets of Wuxi and Foshan pulled back slightly, dropping from 947,100 mt on May 14, 2026 to 939,200 mt on May 21, down 0.83% WoW, sustaining a mild destocking pattern. Stainless steel market prices were overall in the doldrums this week. Against the backdrop of declining prices, traders generally felt weak market conditions, and wait-and-see sentiment intensified. However, end-use demand demonstrated strong resilience. The market is still at the tail end of the traditional peak consumption season, and downstream end-user just-in-time procurement transactions remained generally stable, without concentrated purchasing halts due to weakening futures or subdued market sentiment, continuously supporting the digestion of market supplies. Meanwhile, steel mill agents proactively cut prices and actively pushed shipments, accelerating the depletion of circulating market supplies. Multiple factors jointly drove stainless steel social inventory to pull back slightly further this week. Overall, sustained release of end-user just-in-time procurement combined with proactive shipments from steel mills jointly dominated the mild destocking trend in inventory this week. Currently, stainless steel mills still maintain reasonable profit margins with strong production willingness, and overall production is expected to stay high, with sustained pressure on the market supply side. As the traditional peak consumption season gradually draws to a close, downstream consumption is about to enter the off-season, and subsequent demand pullback will exert notable pressure on continued inventory destocking. In the short term, inventory is expected to continue its mild destocking trend, but the degree of destocking will most likely slow down gradually. Going forward, close attention should be paid to the sustainability of downstream just-in-time procurement, steel mill production schedules and delivery pace, peak season...

To more comprehensively and objectively reflect the overall industry inventory change trends, SMM has expanded the sample coverage for other segments in the weekly lithium carbonate inventory tracking. This week, downstream weekly inventory stood at 42,729 mt, other segments weekly inventory (large sample) at 76,157 mt, smelter weekly inventory at 18,374 mt, and total weekly inventory (large sample) at 137,260 mt, down 0.8% WoW. As of this Thursday, the overall market inventory situation was as follows: Upstream: Hedging registered warrants continued to increase Upstream lithium chemical plants saw hedging registered warrant volumes continue to climb. The main reason was that futures prices remained at a relatively high level in the earlier period, traders' purchase pace slowed down, and lithium chemical plants' delivery willingness strengthened. As of now, total lithium carbonate warrants have exceeded 50,000 mt. Downstream: Shift from wait-and-see to active restocking, with significant inventory buildup Downstream material plants had low spot order purchase willingness during the earlier price highs, mainly relying on consuming prior inventory, early-month customer-supplied increments, and long-term contract orders to maintain production. As lithium carbonate prices gradually pulled back, material plants' procurement pace showed notable changes: during the early stage of the decline, restocking was primarily driven by rigid demand; as prices continued to fall, stockpiling willingness rose significantly, and buying sentiment turned positive. As a result, downstream material plants saw substantial inventory buildup this week. Additionally, the replenishment from ex-China imports also deserved attention, as the volume of imported lithium chemicals converted into downstream inventory increased. Other segments: Diverging inventory trends between battery cell manufacturers and traders The "other" segment in this large sample mainly covered battery cell manufacturers and traders. Among them, battery cell manufacturers increased their lithium carbonate customer-supply volumes to material plants to control costs during the earlier price highs, resulting in some destocking of their own inventory; as prices continued to decline, battery cell manufacturers' long-term stockpiling willingness grew stronger. Trader side, some enterprises, influenced by "invoicing economics," gradually slowed down their pace of taking spot orders from upstream lithium chemical plants. However, as prices pulled back and downstream buying sentiment turned positive, trader inventory saw significant destocking. Market Supplement: Gradual Conversion of Invisible Inventory to Visible Inventory It is worth noting that as new goods in the market were largely absorbed by demand, some older goods gradually converted from invisible inventory to visible inventory, circulating and being traded in the market. This was also one of the important reasons driving the current increase in warrant volume.

According to the latest customs data, galvanized sheet exports in April 2026 totaled 1.1761 million mt, up 1.65% MoM and down 8.84% YoY. Cumulative galvanized sheet exports from January to April reached 4.4273 million mt, down 5.35% YoY cumulatively.

This week, ternary cathode precursor prices declined. Nickel sulphate prices remained stable today, cobalt sulphate prices declined, and manganese sulphate prices remained stable.