[SMM Analysis] Steel billet sees notable YoY increase, while UAE’s decline hits a new low By product: Steel billet’s increase remains impressive, mainly because previous geopolitical conflicts caused periodic logistical bottlenecks and surging insurance premiums in major billet and slab production areas at some local Middle East EAF mills and BF-based plants. Overseas billet supply faced a vacuum period, directly pushing global buyers to launch massive inquiries with China. Purchasing sentiment strengthened notably in Southeast Asia in particular. According to SMM’s order-taking survey, exports are expected to stay high in the short term. It is also worth noting that Vietnam’s anti-dumping duties on China’s HRC will be implemented on April 17. As a result, total HRC exports to Vietnam in April increased compared with March, driven by a final rush to front-load shipments before the deadline. Exports are expected to pull back again in May. Data Source: SMM, General Administration of Customs By country: Djibouti’s increase topped the list. Its product mix chart clearly shows that HRC (42%) and steel billet (30%) are the dominant products. As the “Gateway to East Africa” and a transshipment hub, Djibouti itself lacks large-scale consumption capacity. This surge is essentially because repeated Red Sea tensions caused large vessels to unload and transship directly in the Mediterranean or south of the Suez Canal, with Djibouti serving as a safe transit point serving East African inland infrastructure projects such as Ethiopia, or shipping onward via smaller vessels to North Africa. As a global shipping and trade settlement center, Singapore saw an increase of 290,000 mt, mainly due to centralized procurement and trade settlement by ASEAN and Chinese-invested construction projects in Singapore, which provided marginal support for China’s exports of bars, wire rods, and other infrastructure-related finished steel products. The UAE dropped 870,000 mt, and Saudi Arabia dropped 450,000 mt. This was primarily due to geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East, compounded by excessive stockpiling by major Middle Eastern buyers earlier to avoid logistics risks, pushing the Middle East market into a defensive cycle of destocking and slower purchasing. Data Source: SMM, General Administration of Customs Outlook: SMM’s April orders remain at a high level, and May exports are still expected to see increases. According to SMM’s steel export order data, affected by holidays, steel export orders in April dipped slightly by 0.57% MoM from March. However, it is also learned that shipping to the Middle East is gradually recovering, and orders for slabs destined for Southeast Asia saw a significant increase in April. Taking all factors into consideration—with the new export orders index re-entering expansion territory, the export price advantage still significant, and export order performance excellent—SMM expects that China’s steel exports in May will still see growth, with steel billet continuing to play a dominant role. Data Source: SMM Copyright and Intellectual Property Statement: This report is independently created or compiled by SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SMM"), and SMM legally enjoys complete copyright and related intellectual property rights. The copyright, trademark rights, domain name rights, commercial data information property rights, and other related intellectual property rights of all content contained in this report (including but not limited to information, articles, data, charts, pictures, audio, video, logos, advertisements, trademarks, trade names, domain names, layout designs, etc.) are owned or held by SMM or its related right holders. The above rights are strictly protected by relevant laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China, such as the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, as well as applicable international treaties. Without prior written authorization from SMM, no institution or individual may: 1. Use all or part of this report in any form (including but not limited to reprinting, modifying, selling, transferring, displaying, translating, compiling, disseminating); 2. Disclose the content of this report to any third party; 3. License or authorize any third party to use the content of this report; 4. For any unauthorized use, SMM will legally pursue the legal responsibilities of the infringer, demanding that they bear legal responsibilities including but not limited to contractual breach liability, returning unjust enrichment, and compensating for direct and indirect economic losses. Data Source Statement: (Except for publicly available information, other data in this report are derived from publicly available information (including but not limited to industry news, seminars, exhibitions, corporate financial reports, brokerage reports, data from the National Bureau of Statistics, customs import and export data, various data published by major associations and institutions, etc.), market exchanges, and comprehensive analysis and reasonable inferences made by the research team based on SMM's internal database models. This information is for reference only and does not constitute decision-making advice. SMM reserves the final interpretation right of the terms in this statement and the right to adjust and modify the content of the statement according to actual circumstances.

[Relatively Firm Support from Raw Material Side; Non-Oriented Silicon Steel Market May Be in the Doldrums Next Week] This week, spot prices of cold-rolled non-oriented silicon steel in the Shanghai market remained stable, with overall market transactions performing moderately. Market feedback indicated that current market demand was sluggish, with downstream motor enterprises being cautious in procurement, primarily making just-in-time procurement. The relatively firm support from the raw material side provided certain support for spot silicon steel prices, and traders mainly sold at par prices.

[SMM Analysis] Indian Steel Prices Continued to Weaken, Southeast Asian Procurement Sentiment Remained Cautious From the price spread model, billet/slab: Chinese resources expanded their advantage in the Indonesian market, with the price spread hitting a new monthly low. The inversion between China HRC (FOB) and core ex-China markets deteriorated across the board this week, with multiple indicators hitting historical or periodic highs mid-week, except for the China-India spread which rebounded. Chinese resources are expected to continue offering low FOB prices to Southeast Asia and the Middle East next week, and the price spread matrix is unlikely to narrow significantly in the short term. Meanwhile, considering the approaching EU new regulations, June will be a window period for intense price collapse between Indian and Chinese resources in non-EU markets (such as the Middle East and ASEAN). By sub-market, Indian HRC export prices continued to weaken last week, with suppliers lowering offers to stimulate demand amid an overall sluggish regional market. Vietnam remained the primary export destination for Indian SAE1006 HRC, with August shipment offers gradually declining from $580/mt CFR to $565–570/mt CFR. The price decline was still driven by persistently weak demand, intensified competition among exporters, and widespread market expectations of further regional price declines. According to market rumors, a 30,000 mt cargo of Indian HRC was transacted at $565–570/mt CFR Vietnam last week, below the latest market offer of $572/mt CFR quoted on Friday. However, overall transaction activity remained limited, with Vietnamese buyers mostly adopting a wait-and-see strategy, focusing on the upcoming new monthly HRC price announcements from Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation and Hoa Phat Group before deciding on new procurement plans. Market participants noted that cautious downstream demand and expectations of continued price declines continued to suppress buyer restocking willingness. Overall, the demand environment facing Indian exporters remained challenging. Southeast Asian market: Affected by weak downstream demand and market expectations of further price declines, overall steel trading sentiment remained cautious, with procurement activity continuing to be suppressed. In Vietnam, domestic HRC prices showed a weakening trend due to sluggish new orders and traders maintaining low inventory management. Downstream buyers also mostly adopted a wait-and-see approach, on one hand waiting for local steel mills to announce new monthly offers, and on the other hand closely monitoring China steel futures price fluctuations. Meanwhile, Indonesian suppliers remained among the most competitive sellers in the region, offering HRC to Vietnam at approximately $585/mt CFR, continuing to exert pressure on regional prices. On June 1, Hoa Phat announced its latest price adjustment, lowering HRC offers by $13/mt. Following this announcement, local market transaction prices are expected to continue declining. Overall, seasonal demand weakness, ample market supply, and cautious procurement behavior will collectively keep trading activity in the Southeast Asian market subdued. Turkish market: Affected by the Eid al-Adha holiday, sheets & plates trading in the Middle East and Turkey largely stalled this week, with long and flat product prices remaining stable. By product, as July shipping quota is about to be readjusted, EU buyers' purchasing remained weak, and Turkey's HRC exports to the EU had been quiet since before the holiday. However, as current orders were relatively sufficient, Turkish steel mills were not in a hurry to lower prices to close deals before the quota announcement, but instead focused more on domestic sales. In the long product market, due to regional conflicts and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East causing continued logistics disruptions, China's rebar exports to the Middle East declined. Turkish suppliers successfully captured this market gap, with rebar exports rebounding significantly in April, and exports to Yemen, Africa, and parts of Europe also achieved notable growth. Copyright and Intellectual Property Statement: This report is independently created or compiled by SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "SMM"), and SMM legally enjoys complete copyright and related intellectual property rights. The copyright, trademark rights, domain name rights, commercial data information property rights, and other related intellectual property rights of all content contained in this report (including but not limited to information, articles, data, charts, pictures, audio, video, logos, advertisements, trademarks, trade names, domain names, layout designs, etc.) are owned or held by SMM or its related right holders. The above rights are strictly protected by relevant laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China, such as the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China, the Trademark Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China, as well as applicable international treaties. Without prior written authorization from SMM, no institution or individual may: 1. Use all or part of this report in any form (including but not limited to reprinting, modifying, selling, transferring, displaying, translating, compiling, disseminating); 2. Disclose the content of this report to any third party; 3. License or authorize any third party to use the content of this report; 4. For any unauthorized use, SMM will legally pursue the legal responsibilities of the infringer, demanding that they bear legal responsibilities including but not limited to contractual breach liability, returning unjust enrichment, and compensating for direct and indirect economic losses. Data Source Statement: (Except for publicly available information, other data in this report are derived from publicly available information (including but not limited to industry news, seminars, exhibitions, corporate financial reports, brokerage reports, data from the National Bureau of Statistics, customs import and export data, various data published by major associations and institutions, etc.), market exchanges, and comprehensive analysis and reasonable inferences made by the research team based on SMM's internal database models. This information is for reference only and does not constitute decision-making advice. SMM reserves the final interpretation right of the terms in this statement and the right to adjust and modify the content of the statement according to actual circumstances.

Li Auto released its Q1 2026 financial report. Quarterly revenue reached RMB 23 billion, with cash reserves at RMB 94.3 billion by the end of the quarter, maintaining a leading position among new energy vehicle startups. The company delivered 95,142 vehicles in Q1, a 2.5% year-on-year increase, exceeding its guidance and ranking first among Chinese brands in the new energy vehicle market priced above RMB 200,000.

SMM News, May 29: According to SMM statistics, the total output of primary aluminum overseas in May 2026 fell year-on-year by 9.9%, mainly due to large-scale production cuts at aluminum smelters in the Middle East. The average daily overseas output edged up 0.4% month-on-month, supported by production resumptions at smelters in the US, Spain and Iceland, as well as ramping-up output from new projects in Indonesia. As revealed in the Q4 and full-year financial report of Vedanta Aluminium for Fiscal Year 2026, Balco Aluminium Plant has launched the first production run on India’s most advanced 525kA primary aluminum production lines. The plant’s total production capacity has expanded to 1 million metric tons, and the project is expected to enter a steady output ramping phase. Looking ahead to June 2026, production resumptions at aluminum smelters in the US and Iceland will continue. Driven by high price levels, new primary aluminum projects in Indonesia will accelerate construction, and some are expected to commence power connection and commissioning gradually. The expanded capacity at Balco in India will keep ramping up. Overall, overseas primary aluminum output will remain in year-on-year decline in the short term, while the average daily output will maintain month-on-month growth amid ongoing production resumptions and capacity ramping of new projects. Market participants shall keep a close eye on official announcements from aluminum producers across the Middle East, Indonesia and India.

On May 28, XPeng Group released its first quarter financial report for 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, XPeng Group's total quarterly revenue was 13.03 billion yuan, with a quarterly gross margin of 20.6%, an increase of 5.0 percentage points compared to the same period in 2025. Quarterly deliveries reached 62,682 vehicles. Service and other income amounted to 2.03 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.2%. Quarterly research and development investment was 2.91 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.8%. As of March 31, 2026, cash on hand was 42.09 billion yuan.