[Samsung Electronics Ships HBM4E Chip Samples to Global Clients] Samsung Electronics said on Friday that it had begun shipments of samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip, the 12-layer HBM4E, calling it the world's first shipments of such a product. As demand for advanced memory chips from AI servers and processors surges, Samsung's clients include major AI enterprises such as AMD, NVIDIA, and Google.

European mills are targeting cold rolled coil prices of €2,900/t delivered by the end of the third quarter, with increases expected to accelerate once new trade measures take effect in July. Despite the difficult downstream environment, buyers generally do not expect prices to decline in the coming months. In Italy, processors are already resisting sheet sales below €2,790/t, while sheet prices across Europe are being pushed toward €2,900/t.

SMM News, May 21： Since mid-March, China's tungsten market has ended a year-long sharp rally and entered a high-level correction phase with prices trending steadily lower. Market sentiment has shifted from exuberance to caution, with periodic supply-demand adjustments and fading market mood becoming core drivers of price movements.

[SMM Shanghai Spot Copper][SMM Shanghai Spot Copper] Looking ahead to tomorrow, demand side, according to SMM, although copper prices retreated after a rapid rise, absolute prices remained at high levels. End-user cargo pick-up pace slowed down. Affected by the accumulation of finished product inventories, some copper semis processing plants in east China opted to shut down furnaces for maintenance or close part of their production lines to reduce the capital occupation risk caused by high finished product inventories. Overall, amid weak demand, Shanghai spot copper premiums against the 06 contract are expected to remain at a discount tomorrow, or widen slightly.

Recently, China’s domestic rhenium market has seen a mild price correction, with prices of raw materials and metal products weakening in tandem. In contrast, overseas rhenium prices have moved higher against the domestic trend, highlighting a clear divergence between domestic and overseas markets. At present, the industrial chain remains in an obvious price game. Upstream sellers hold a cautious shipping attitude and mainly conclude small-volume rigid-demand deals, while downstream buyers stay on the sidelines with a strong willingness to press prices and test the bottom. Overall market trading activity is sluggish, and rhenium prices are expected to move in a range-bound consolidation in the short term. Differing from the downward trend in the domestic market, the overseas rhenium market has maintained a steady upward momentum with continuous gains in overseas quotations. Currently, the overseas price of ammonium rhenate has climbed to around USD 5,300, and the overseas price of rhenium pellets has risen synchronously to USD 375 per troy ounce. Supported by relatively resilient overseas demand and tight supply circulation overseas, rhenium product prices have kept advancing. A stark contrast has formed between domestic and overseas market trends, and the price spread pattern has also changed accordingly. From the perspective of industrial chain fundamentals, the price game atmosphere in the rhenium market remains intense, presenting a two-sided pattern of cautious holding by sellers and price bottom-hunting by buyers. Domestic copper and molybdenum producers are generally prudent in shipments, holding positive expectations for future prices and reluctant to release large volumes of goods at blindly low prices. Most players adopt a strategy of small-batch and demand-based partial shipments, with overall supply release remaining restrained. Downstream metal processors and end-user enterprises hold a low-price procurement mentality. Amid the market correction, their wait-and-see sentiment has intensified, and they are unwilling to build large inventories. Buyers continue to test sellers’ room for price concessions, and purchase-on-demand has become the mainstream market pattern. Overall, the domestic rhenium market lacks major positive catalysts at this stage, leaving raw material and product prices room for weak range-bound volatility in the short term. High overseas market prices offer limited support to domestic prices. The upstream-downstream price game is unlikely to ease in the near term. Without the concentrated release of new rigid demand and price support from the raw material end, domestic rhenium prices are projected to maintain a weak range-bound trend. Market transactions will continue to be dominated by small rigid-demand orders. It is necessary to keep track of the transaction rhythm between upstream and downstream players, changes in raw material inventories, and the transmission impact of overseas price movements on the domestic market. Looking at the domestic raw material market, the price center of rhenium raw materials has moved down recently. Major domestic copper-molybdenum smelters offer rhenium products mainly at CNY 26,000–27,000 per kilogram, with most market transactions settled within this range. Meanwhile, market supply structure has become differentiated. Some small and medium-sized producers adopt low-price shipments to capital 回收，with actual transaction prices falling to CNY 24,000–25,000 per kilogram. The circulation of low-price supplies has dragged down spot market prices and further deepened the correction of raw material prices. The metallic rhenium market adjusted in line with raw material trends. Rhenium pellet prices edged down alongside raw materials, with mainstream current transaction prices standing at around CNY 46,000 per kilogram. On the whole, the metal end shows a strong correlation with raw material price movements. In the absence of major positive drivers, downstream consumption is confined to industrial rigid demand, which is insufficient to drive a steady rebound in product prices. Market quotations adjust flexibly following spot trading sentiment.

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] Stainless Steel Futures Surged and Spot Prices Remained Firm, Trading Sluggish as Labour Day Holiday Approached On April 29, SMM reported that SS futures fluctuated upward strongly. Driven by the continued strengthening of SHFE nickel, SS futures maintained a strong trend. As of the morning close, the most-traded SS contract was quoted at 15,505 yuan/mt. Spot market side, SS futures continued to fluctuate at highs, boosting stainless steel traders' confidence. Spot offers were generally at relatively high levels, with low-priced resources hard to find. Although the holiday was approaching and rapid price increases made downstream buyers cautious and wait-and-see, with most making just-in-time procurement, trading was slightly sluggish. However, supported by the strong performance of SS futures, spot prices were unlikely to pull back. The most-traded SS contract strengthened and tested higher levels. At 10:15 AM, SS2605 was quoted at 15,475 yuan/mt, up 55 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for 304/2B in Wuxi ranged from -5 to 195 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the average price of cold-rolled 201/2B coils in Wuxi remained flat; for cold-rolled trimmed-edge 304/2B coils, the average price in Wuxi rose 50 yuan/mt and in Foshan rose 125 yuan/mt; cold-rolled 316L/2B coils in Wuxi held steady; for hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils, Wuxi offers rose 50 yuan/mt; cold-rolled 430/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan held steady. Currently, the stainless steel market was driven higher by the surge in SS futures, with spot offers strengthening in tandem and rising to highs not seen since 2023. However, the short-term price increase was relatively rapid and had limited correlation with changes in stainless steel fundamentals, and end-user acceptance remained limited...

[Strait Blockade Remains in Stalemate, LME Outperforms SHFE for Aluminum] Overall, the strait blockade continued. The supply gap outside China and the ongoing drawdown of LME inventory supported LME prices to hold up well, while China's aluminum ingot inventory remained at elevated levels. Attention should be paid to whether a turning point in domestic inventory can materialize smoothly.

A broad coalition of more than 350 European steel producers, distributors, processors, downstream manufacturers, and 40 national associations has formally urged the European Commission and EU member states to take immediate action to protect the region’s steel and metals value chain from accelerating deindustrialisation. EUROMETAL said the initiative reflects an “unprecedented level of alignment” across the industry.

[SMM Cast Aluminum Alloy Morning Comment: Cast Aluminum Alloy Swung Wildly in Night Session to Close Higher, ADC12 Moved Sideways Driven by Cost] The most-traded cast aluminum alloy contract surged to an intraday high of 24,245 yuan/mt overnight before pulling back rapidly, once probing the low of 24,035 yuan/mt during the session, exhibiting a pattern of wild swings. Prices gradually stabilized and rebounded in the latter half of the night session, with the center steadily rising amid repeated tug-of-war around the average price line, recovering most intraday losses by the close. It finally settled at 24,155 yuan/mt, up 0.04% from the previous close.

[SMM Aluminum Price Weekly Review: Supply Shortages Outside China Supported Prices to Hold Up Well, China Focused on the Turning Point of Aluminum Ingot Social Inventory]