[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Stop Falling and Stabilize, Stainless Steel Spot Market Weak Before Holiday: SMM February 3 – SS futures showed a stable and fluctuating trend. Yesterday, SS futures plunged sharply, once hitting the limit down, releasing market pessimism; today, nonferrous metals futures generally stopped falling and stabilized, and SS also recovered, with the intraday high once reaching 13,650 yuan/mt. On the spot market side, affected by the futures pullback, spot offers were further lowered, but market pessimism was limited: most traders had already prepared for the holiday, and downstream users had basically completed pre-holiday stockpiling, resulting in few actual transactions; spot offers mainly followed futures movements, while traders expected demand recovery after the holiday during the "Golden March, Silver April" period. The most-traded SS futures contract fluctuated steadily. At 10:30 a.m., SS2603 was quoted at 13,580 yuan/mt, down 280 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In the Wuxi area, the spot premium/discount for 304/2B was in the range of 490–690 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the average price of Wuxi cold-rolled 201/2B coil was 8,500 yuan/mt; the average price of cold-rolled mill edge 304/2B coil was 14,000 yuan/mt in Wuxi and 14,050 yuan/mt in Foshan; the price of cold-rolled 316L/2B coil in Wuxi was 26,600 yuan/mt, and 26,600 yuan/mt in Foshan; the price of hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil in Wuxi was 25,750 yuan/mt; the price of cold-rolled 430/2B coil in both Wuxi and Foshan was 7,800 yuan/mt. With the approaching Chinese New Year holiday and rising risk aversion among investors, bulls concentrated on profit-taking, and stainless steel futures...

In terms of aluminum billet inventory, according to SMM statistics, the domestic aluminum billet inventory in major consumption areas stood at 127,500 mt on June 12, a decrease of 2,000 mt from Monday and a decline of 2,500 mt WoW, still hovering around 130,000 mt. In the past week, the regional distribution of aluminum billet inventory has shown divergence. In the Wuxi area, there was still an increase in warehouse arrivals, but poor market transactions exacerbated the local inventory buildup. In the Nanchang area, due to the persistently high Shanghai-Guangdong price spread, more billets were transported from the billet plants around South China to the Nanchang area, leading to an increase in local inventory, while arrivals in the Guangdong area were relatively low. In terms of outflows from warehouses, the total outflows from public warehouses of aluminum billets in China during the period from June 3 to June 8 amounted to 36,400 mt, a decrease of 1,200 mt from the previous period.

[6.4 Morning Meeting Minutes] As major nickel ore mining regions, the supply situation in Sulawesi and Halmahera remained disrupted during the week due to frequent precipitation, which hindered the mining and transportation processes at some mines. In addition, the slow progress of RKAB approvals continued to affect supply. It is understood that the subsequent supplementary quota approval process for RKAB is expected to commence in June and July of H2. However, the market remains concerned about the speed of approval for the subsequent supplementary RKAB quotas. Recently, rumors have circulated in the market that a large number of RKAB quotas were approved in the past few weeks. However, after verification with the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), it is likely that these rumors are untrue, and the supply of nickel ore remains tight.

June 3 News: According to SMM statistics, on June 3, the inventory of aluminum ingots at major domestic consumption areas stood at 519,000 mt, an increase of 8,000 mt from last Thursday.

In terms of aluminum billet inventory, according to SMM statistics, as of May 29, the inventory of aluminum billets in major domestic consumption areas reached 128,300 mt, a decrease of 1,900 mt from Monday this week and a decrease of 2,500 mt WoW from Thursday last week. Despite signs of a slowdown in the destocking of aluminum billet inventory, the overall inventory still hovered around 130,000 mt, a low level compared to the same period in the past three years, indicating that inventory levels remained relatively low. From the perspective of outflows from warehouses data, the total outflows from warehouses of domestic aluminum billets during the period from May 20 to May 25 was 44,600 mt, a decrease of 4,900 mt WoW and a decrease of 7,300 mt YoY. Affected by the continuous impact of truck shipments, shipments showed little sign of improvement, indicating a significant weakening in the trading activity of the aluminum billet market and a growing off-season atmosphere. From a regional perspective, there was a gradual increasing trend in the arrival of aluminum billets in the Wuxi area, as manufacturers increased shipments to warehouses due to weakened downstream consumption. Meanwhile, the current Guangdong-Shanghai price spread had widened to 150 yuan/mt, and the price difference of "strong in the east and weak in the south" may promote the flow of aluminum billets between regions. It is necessary to continue to monitor the pace of changes in domestic consumption and the changes in the Guangdong-Shanghai price spread.

[5.22 Morning Meeting Minutes] Currently, the premium for Indonesia's local pyrometallurgy saprolite ore remains relatively firm. With finished product prices having fallen below the cost line, some high-cost production lines have been affected by losses, leading to a reduction in production load. It is expected that overall production will slightly decline. Demand side, stainless steel prices have been bolstered by the easing of tariff policies, with prices stabilizing and rising. However, the overall transaction situation has not significantly improved. Mainstream steel mills' intended purchase prices for raw materials have stabilized, and some traders have shown willingness to stockpile, with purchase prices rising slightly compared to the previous period.