[Downstream Enterprises Actively Priced and Purchased, with Spot Transactions Improving Significantly During the Week]: This week, Ningbo spot premiums continued to rise, with the weekly average price up 20 yuan/mt WoW. As of this Friday, Ningbo spot prices against the 2604 contract were at a discount of 30 yuan/mt, with a premium of 50 yuan/mt against Shanghai, and the premium against Shanghai widened during the week..

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Stopped Falling and Rebounded, Stainless Steel Spot Quotations Rose in Tandem SMM News, March 20: SS futures stopped falling and rebounded. Base metals futures generally recovered, with SS futures showing particularly strong performance and basically recouping this week’s losses, closing at 14,160 yuan/mt by the midday close. In the spot market, driven by the strong rebound in SS futures and coupled with stainless steel mill agents’ efforts to hold prices firm, stainless steel retail quotations also moved higher accordingly; supported by improving market sentiment, both inquiry activity and trading picked up. High-grade NPI prices remained in the doldrums, and the steel mill tender price for high-carbon ferrochrome was announced below market expectations, leaving weak cost support for stainless steel. The most-traded SS futures contract stopped falling and recovered. At 10:15 a.m., SS2605 was quoted at 14,150 yuan/mt, up 220 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for 304/2B in Wuxi were in the 220-420 yuan/mt range. In the spot market, the average price of cold-rolled 201/2B coil in Wuxi rose by 50 yuan/mt; for cold-rolled trimmed 304/2B coil, the average price in Wuxi rose by 100 yuan/mt, and the average price in Foshan rose by 50 yuan/mt; cold-rolled 316L/2B coil in Wuxi was flat; hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil quotations in Wuxi were unchanged; cold-rolled 430/2B coil in both Wuxi and Foshan held steady. Entering the traditional September-October peak season, although the stainless steel market ushered in a seasonal recovery window, end-use demand fell short of expectations, downstream wait-and-see sentiment gradually intensified, and procurement only...

Today， DCE iron ore fluctuated upward today. The most-traded I2605 contract finally closed at 815.5 yuan/mt, up 1.05% from the previous trading session. Spot prices rose by about 4-7 yuan from the previous trading day.

[Futures Zinc Prices Fell Sharply, While Spot Premiums Strengthened During the Week]: Shanghai spot premiums strengthened this week, with the weekly average price up 20 yuan/mt WoW. As of this Friday, ordinary domestic brands were quoted at discounts of 30 yuan/mt to 20 yuan/mt against the 2604 contract, while the high-priced brand Shuangyan was quoted at a premium of 50 yuan/mt against the 2604 contract.

Next week, there will be limited macroeconomic data releases, mainly including the final March University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for the US and the final March one-year inflation expectations for the US. At present, key events outside China remain the geopolitical issues in the Middle East, as well as the views of representatives from various countries on global trade development at the upcoming 14th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14). LME lead, markets outside China will continue to be affected by geopolitical issues, with damage to the economic environment and prolonged logistics cycles dragging LME lead lower consecutively to a near one-year low. However, we need to note that the SHFE/LME price ratio widened, allowing more imported lead to flow into the Chinese market, while spot cargo availability in Southeast Asia tightened and spot premiums rose, with LME Cash-3M contango narrowing to -$41.44/mt. Next week, attention should be paid to the possibility of lead prices probing lower and then rebounding after macro headwinds are fully priced in. LME lead is expected to trade at $1,840-1,930/mt next week. SHFE lead, dragged down by the decline in overseas lead prices, the SHFE/LME price ratio widened and expectations for lead ingot imports increased, especially against the backdrop of China’s lead ingot social inventory standing at a 16-month high, sending lead prices lower in succession. At the same time, we need to note that inventory at domestic smelters remained on a declining trend, losses in secondary lead widened, and the inversion between secondary lead and primary lead prices may become a factor stopping lead prices from falling. In addition, downstream enterprises purchased on dips, and attention should be paid to the subsequent decline in social inventory. If destocking materializes, lead prices may stop falling and rebound. The most-traded SHFE lead contract is expected to trade at 16,100-16,750 yuan/mt next week. Spot price forecast: 16,100-16,550 yuan/mt. For primary lead and secondary lead, supply continued to rise as smelters resumed operations after maintenance. On the demand side, downstream enterprises' short-term restocking on dips may facilitate destocking, but from April to May is the traditional off-season for the lead-acid battery market, and the sustainability of downstream enterprise procurement is limited, so spot lead premiums are expected to struggle to continue rising.

【SMM Analysis】As of this week, the weekly net profit of Pr-Nd alloy reached 36,812.4 yuan, with a net margin of 4.1%. Compared with last week, net profit increased 134%, setting a new profit high for the past nearly two years. The main reasons behind this were the decline in raw material costs and relatively high metal quotes.