SMM, August 13: Metals Market: As of midday close, base metals in the domestic market mostly moved lower. SHFE copper fell 0.5%, SHFE aluminum fell 0.9%. SHFE lead rose 0.63%. SHFE zinc fell 0.27%. SHFE tin fell 0.86%. SHFE nickel fell 0.16%. In addition, the most-traded cast aluminum futures contract fell 1.33%, and the most-traded alumina contract fell 1.62%. The most-traded lithium carbonate contract was flat at 148,840 yuan/mt. The most-traded silicon metal contract fell 0.64%. The most-traded polysilicon futures contract rose 0.75%. Ferrous metals all fell. Iron ore fell 0.14%, rebar fell 0.5%, and hot-rolled coil fell 0.37%. Stainless steel fell 0.93%. For coking coal and coke: the most-traded coking coal contract fell 1.27%, and the most-traded coke contract fell 0.73%. In overseas base metals, as of 11:45, LME metals were nearly all down. LME copper fell 0.2%, LME aluminum fell 0.89%, and LME zinc fell 0.4%. LME tin fell 0.18%. LME nickel fell 0.59%. LME lead rose 0.21%. In precious metals, as of 11:45, COMEX gold rose 0.02%, and COMEX silver fell 0.08%. In domestic precious metals: SHFE gold rose 0.34%, and the most-traded SHFE silver contract rose 0.28%. In addition, as of midday close, the most-traded platinum futures contract fell 0.52%, and the most-traded palladium futures contract fell 0.57%. As of midday close, the most-traded European container freight futures contract rose 1.75% to 1,630 points. As of 11:45 on August 13, midday quotes for some futures: Spot and Fundamentals Copper: Today, Guangdong #1 copper cathode spot against the front-month contract: high-quality copper was quoted at a discount of 20 yuan/mt, down 40 yuan/mt from the previous trading day; standard-quality copper was quoted at a discount of 120 yuan/mt, down 40 yuan/mt from the previous trading day; and SX-EW copper was quoted at a discount of 200 yuan/mt, down 60 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The average price of Guangdong #1 copper cathode was 108,250 yuan/mt, down 160 yuan/mt from the previous trading day, and the average price of SX-EW copper was 108,100 yuan/mt, down 200 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot market: Guangdong inventories fell for two consecutive days, with fewer arrivals and slightly higher warehouse withdrawals... Macro Front Domestic Side: [China is formulating a new round of action plans for continuous improvement of air quality] The State Council Information Office held a themed press conference today (13th) under the series "A Good Start to the 15th Five-Year Plan." At the conference, it was introduced that China has achieved encouraging results in air pollution control, but there is still no room for the idea of relaxing or taking a break, and patience and resolve must be maintained. Currently, a new round of action plans for continuous improvement of air quality is being stepped up, and the battle for blue skies will focus on "higher, more precise, and more scientific" efforts. (CCTV News) [National carbon emissions trading market's cumulative trading volume exceeded 900 million mt] Huang Runqiu, Minister of Ecology and Environment, said at the themed press conference held by the State Council Information Office on Aug 13 under the series "A Good Start to the 15th Five-Year Plan" that as of end-July, the cumulative trading volume of the national carbon emissions trading market exceeded 930 million mt, which not only promoted low-cost carbon reduction in industries but also strongly advanced the green and low-carbon transition. (Xinhua News Agency) [Shanghai: promote the issuance of "computing power vouchers," "model vouchers," and "corpus vouchers" to reduce the cost of using digital factors such as public data, computing power, models, and corpus] Shanghai issued the "Action Plan for Shanghai to Implement the Several Measures on Further Promoting Private Investment Development." It mentioned that computing power subsidies will be provided in accordance with laws and regulations, support private enterprises in renting intelligent computing resources for large model R&D training and application, and encourage universities, research institutions, and state-owned enterprises to use data storage and computing power resources built by various business entities including private enterprises. Publish a list of open public data and dynamically update it, support private enterprises in deep development and scenario-based utilization of specific public data, promote the issuance of "computing power vouchers," "model vouchers," and "corpus vouchers," and reduce the cost of using digital factors such as public data, computing power, models, and corpus. Cultivate benchmark enterprises and platform enterprises for urban digital transformation, and guide private enterprises to participate in digital transformation project construction and scenario operation in fields such as transportation, logistics, and public services. Encourage private enterprises to build demonstration projects of new-type infrastructure such as blockchain applications and large-scale robot applications. (Jin10 Data APP) [PBOC reverse repo operation achieved a net withdrawal of 1 billion yuan on the day] The PBOC did not conduct reverse repo operations today. As 1 billion yuan of 7-day reverse repos matured today, a net withdrawal of 1 billion yuan was achieved on the day. US Dollar: As of 11:45, the US dollar index rose 0.01% to 100. US core inflation was mild in July, which likely reduced pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates. Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday showed that, excluding volatile food and energy categories, core CPI rose 0.2% MoM in July. The YoY increase was 2.5%, matching the lowest pace since March 2021. Overall, CPI rose 0.1% MoM and 3.4% YoY in July. This report suggests that the energy price shock from the Iran war continued to fade in July. As the Fed discusses whether to raise rates at its September meeting, these data may give the Fed more room to balance inflation pressures against the recent hiring slowdown. Before the September meeting, policymakers will also see more reports on employment and inflation, while investors will closely watch the speech by Fed Chairman Warsh expected at the annual Jackson Hole symposium later this month. US stock index futures rose, and US Treasury yields were basically flat. Investors reduced bets on a September rate hike. According to CME "FedWatch": the probability that the Fed keeps rates unchanged through September is 59.9%, and the probability of a cumulative 25bp hike is 40.1%. The probability that the Fed keeps rates unchanged through October is 45.3%, the probability of cumulative 25bp hikes is 44.9%, and the probability of cumulative 50bp hikes is 9.8%. (Jin10 Data APP) CITIC Securities research report said that US July CPI was fully in line with expectations, core inflation continued to be mild, and second-round inflation effects were weak, which helped further ease market concerns about inflation risks. We still believe US inflation is not sticky and expect overall CPI YoY to generally continue a mild slowing trend in Q3 and hit bottom in September, then rebound slightly in Q4 this year and decline rapidly in March next year. We still expect the Fed to stay on hold all year this year, and there is room for further downward revision in market-implied rate hike expectations in derivatives. CICC research report said that US seasonally adjusted CPI rose 0.1% MoM in July, 3.4% YoY, and core inflation rose 0.2% MoM and 2.5% YoY, all in line with market expectations. Energy prices continued to fall, but international oil prices have risen again since August, increasing uncertainty over future energy prices. In core inflation, goods were stronger and services weaker, especially prices of IT products such as computers and software kept rising, reflecting that the supply-demand mismatch brought by expansion in AI capex is gradually transmitting to the consumer side. We believe US inflation may have entered a new phase, with its drivers gradually shifting from supply shocks such as tariffs and oil prices to demand expansion brought by AI investment, and the duration of inflation may be extended accordingly. For the Fed, this data eased pressure for near-term rate hikes, but compared with supply-driven inflation, demand-pull inflation warrants more attention from policymakers. Other Currencies: RBA Assistant Governor Kent said Australia's monetary policy is currently restrictive, and the three consecutive rate hikes earlier this year are now exerting a dampening effect on the economy, while the stronger Australian dollar has further reinforced this impact. He said: "Evidence suggests that Australia's monetary policy is somewhat restrictive, and the tightening earlier this year is taking effect. Borrowing costs have risen, mortgage repayments have increased, conditions in the established housing market have weakened, and the Australian dollar has also appreciated year-to-date." He said growth in aggregate demand appears to be slowing, adding that this is what policymakers want to see and what is needed to bring inflation back to target. (Jin10 Data APP) Data: Today will bring data including the awarded yield of the US 10-year Treasury auction for Aug 12, the bid-to-cover ratio of the US 10-year Treasury auction for Aug 12, US initial jobless claims for the week ended Aug 8, US July PPI YoY, US July PPI MoM, UK preliminary Q2 GDP YoY, UK monthly GDP for the three months to June, UK June manufacturing production MoM, UK June seasonally adjusted goods trade balance, UK June industrial production MoM, and Eurozone June industrial production MoM. In addition, JD.com will hold its Q2 earnings call; 2026 FOMC voter and Cleveland Fed President Hammack will speak; and 2027 FOMC voter and Richmond Fed President Barkin will speak on the economic outlook. Crude Oil: As of 11:45, oil prices in both markets fell, with WTI crude down 0.96% and Brent crude down 0.82%. Oil prices edged lower as traders awaited signs of progress on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. On the Middle East situation, there was almost no sign of progress on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and US President Trump said the US has "full control" over the waterway. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said that as the US-Iran war continues, the global oil market faces a supply shortfall of 1.8 million barrels per day this quarter, more than double its previous forecast; the oil supply gap in 2026 may be the largest in five years. According to AAA, in the US, gasoline and diesel prices have never been as high as this time of year. (Jin10 Data APP) Spot Market Overview: ► ► Midday reviews for other metals will be updated later, please refresh to view~

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, national sulfuric acid (100% basis) output in June 2026 reached approximately 7.923 million tons (vs. 8.365 million in May, 8.948 million in April, and 9.637 million in March, showing a month‑on‑month decline). The year‑on‑year change for the month was about ‑10%. For the first half of the year (January–June), cumulative production totaled roughly 52.223 million tons, a year‑on‑year decrease of about ‑0.1% (down from +1.9% in the January–May period, mainly due to the sharp 10% drop in June). Production remains heavily concentrated in smelting and phosphate‑fertilizer provinces such as Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Anhui, Henan, and Shandong—with Yunnan ranking first at about 1.24 million tons per month. Smelter acid (by‑product from copper/zinc processing) forms the supply backbone, while acid for phosphate fertilizer drives the bulk of demand.

In the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the highest monthly rental for the H800 fell to 74,000 yuan (down 1.99%), and the highest per-card-hour rate fell to 12.85 yuan (down 1.98%). The pullback was driven by the exit of high-priced resources previously traded at 75,500 yuan and the repricing of a small volume of annual-contract resources in Hebei at 74,000 yuan, reflecting a change in supply structure rather than weakening demand. High-end spot cargo transactions confirmed demand resilience; supply growth remains limited, and the top anchor remains in a high range.

SMM, August 13: Today, Guangdong #1 copper cathode spot prices against the front-month contract: high-quality copper was quoted at a discount of 20 yuan/mt, down 40 yuan/mt from the previous trading day; standard-quality copper was quoted at a discount of 120 yuan/mt, down 40 yuan/mt from the previous trading day; and SX-EW copper was quoted at a discount of 200 yuan/mt, down 60 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The average Guangdong #1 copper cathode price was 108,250 yuan/mt, down 160 yuan/mt from the previous trading day, and the average SX-EW copper price was 108,100 yuan/mt, down 200 yuan/mt. Spot market: Guangdong inventories declined for two consecutive days, with fewer arrivals and slightly higher warehouse withdrawals. Today, the price spread between futures contracts widened further from yesterday to nearly 700 yuan/mt. With such a wide spread, downstream consumers purchased cautiously, and suppliers proactively cut prices to sell, causing premiums to keep falling. Even so, actual transactions remained very thin. Today, Guangdong copper cathode procurement sentiment was 2.21, down 0.03 from the previous trading day, and shipment sentiment was 3.03, down 0.04 from the previous trading day (historical data can be queried in the database). Overall, the price spread between futures contracts continued to widen, downstream restocking appetite remained subdued, and spot trades were sluggish.

[SMM East China SHFE Aluminum Spot] In early trading, the SHFE aluminum 2608 contract moved lower compared with yesterday's center. Buying sentiment in the market improved further, and trading among traders was relatively active. Today, the main trading center for SHFE aluminum spot premiums was between parity and a premium of 10 yuan/mt against the 08 contract, while trades against the 09 contract were done at discounts of 30 yuan/mt to 20 yuan/mt.

This week, ternary cathode precursor prices weakened. During the week, nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate prices declined, while manganese sulphate prices remained stable.