Before and after the Chinese New Year, the domestic spot aluminum market exhibited significant regional differentiation, with the spot price spread between South China (Foshan) and East China (Wuxi) drawing particular attention. Before the holiday, the Guangdong-Shanghai price spread reached a high of 150 yuan/mt on February 10, while by February 27 after the holiday, this spread had narrowed significantly to 10 yuan/mt.....

According to SMM, as of February 27, 2026, the days of inventories for domestic aluminum rod plants were recorded at 12.7 days, an increase of 8.6 days from before the holiday.In the first week after the holiday, the weekly operating rate of the domestic aluminum wire and cable industry rebounded to 57%, up 4 percentage points MoM, significantly higher than the pre-holiday low of 53%.

【SMM Analysis: 2026 Chinese New Year Holiday Arrangements for Copper Cathode Rod Enterprises】With the Chinese New Year holiday approaching, production and holiday schedules for most copper cathode rod enterprises during the holiday period have been finalized. SMM, through market communication and a comparison with the YoY situation in 2025, provides a detailed analysis as follows:

[SMM Silicon-Based PV Morning Meeting Summary] Wafer: The market price of N-type 18X wafers is 0.9-0.92 yuan/piece, and the price of N-type 210RN wafers is 1.05-1.1 yuan/piece. Wafer prices are largely stable, with some orders being discussed after SNEC. Upstream and downstream players are engaged in negotiations around the 0.9 yuan price point. Silicon Metal: The mainstream spot price of silicon metal remains stable. Yesterday, SMM reported that the price of oxygen-blown #553 silicon in east China was 8,000-8,300 yuan/mt, unchanged from the previous day. According to GFEX data, the total number of silicon metal warrants yesterday was 56,823 lots, a decrease of 1,097 lots from the previous day. The futures price of silicon metal continues to remain low, and the volume of warrants continues to decrease. Recently, the mainstream spot price of silicon metal has remained stable.

According to SMM, the operating rate of domestic copper wire and cable enterprises was 81.38% in May this year, up 0.07 percentage point MoM and up 13.48 percentage points YoY, which was 3.28 percentage points lower than the estimated operating rate. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 87.17%.

Details of the hot topics in the aluminum market this week (May 26-29, 2025) are as follows......