New country-by-country quotas reward South Korea's balanced access and Indonesia's hot-rolled position, while Taiwan, China, Vietnam and Turkey face a tighter squeeze once melt-and-pour disclosure rules bite from October 1.

Tang Eng Iron Works has issued flat prices for its July stainless steel products, snapping a seven-month streak of consecutive price increases. The decision covers its main 304 hot-rolled and cold-rolled coils as well as 316L surcharges, aligning with major upstream peers Yusco and Walsin Lihwa, which also rolled over their rates yesterday, keeping both sheet products and wire rods steady across the industry. The move marks a temporary pause to seven months of sustained price increases, bringing a period of stability to Chinese Taiwan's domestic stainless steel market.

The most-traded HRC futures contract drifted lower today and closed at 3,285, down 0.79% for the day, falling below previous support. Spot HRC prices fell by 10-25 yuan/mt today, and spot cold-rolled coil prices declined by 10 yuan/mt. Supply side, this week’s impact from hot rolling maintenance was 63,100 mt, down 85,000 mt WoW; next week’s impact from maintenance is 23,100 mt, down 40,000 mt WoW from this week. Overall HRC production is expected to edge up. Demand side, end-users remain in the off-season, and the continued decline in futures led to poor speculative sentiment, with a sluggish overall market atmosphere. Cost side, the ninth round of coke price increases has been implemented, and there are market talks that the 10th round of increases will be launched on Friday. Hot metal output fell by 4,700 mt WoW this week, and cost-side support has weakened somewhat but has not collapsed yet. Looking ahead, contradictions in sheets & plates continue to accumulate. Inventory data released this week show that most cities continued to see inventory buildup, and downstream support remains weak. However, futures have already reached a relatively low level, so there is not expected to be much room for further pullback in the short term. Going forward, close attention should be paid to steel mill maintenance.

Argentina's crude steel production reached 399,400 metric tons (mt) in May 2026, marking an increase from 387,400 mt in April and a 14% rise compared to May 2025. On a monthly basis, hot-rolled coil (HRC) production surged by 48.5% to 192,000 mt, cold-rolled coil (CRC) increased by 8.5% to 102,500 mt, and long products rose by 6.1% to 133,800 mt. However, year-over-year data shows CRC and long products both declined by 9.8%. While energy and agriculture continue to drive effective steel demand, the domestic industry remains pressured by weak civil construction, tax structure burdens, and a notable influx of cheap Chinese imports affecting the local auto sector's consumption.

The European Commission established a new steel trade regime with a total annual tariff quota volume of 18.35 million metric tons (mt) distributed across 26 product categories, with half allocated exclusively to free trade agreement (FTA) partners. Category 1A (hot-rolled sheets and strips) represents nearly one-third of the total volume at roughly 5.2 million mt, a significant reduction from 7.7 million mt in the previous quota year. Turkey received the largest Category 1A country-specific quota (CSQ) at 642,295 mt, followed by India (597,274 mt) and Japan (551,539 mt), while quotas for cold-rolled coil (Category 4A) and metallic coated sheets were sharply slashed to 1.5 million mt and 1.6 million mt, respectively. The steep reduction in volume allowances, particularly in flat products, highlights a protectionist pivot designed to shield European producers from import influxes amidst structurally weak domestic demand.

The most-traded HRC contract consolidated today, closing at 3,315 at the end of the session, with an intraday gain of 0.15%. HRC spot prices remained stable today, while some cold-rolled coil spot prices declined. Supply side, the impact from HRC maintenance this week was 63,100 mt, down 85,000 mt WoW. Next week, the HRC maintenance impact is expected at 23,100 mt, down 40,000 mt WoW. Overall HRC production is expected to edge up slightly. Demand side, current demand showed off-season characteristics, with the market dominated by low-price transactions. Cost side, the 9th round of coke price increases is about to be implemented, and cost-side support has not collapsed yet, but further upward momentum is limited. Looking ahead, short-term fundamentals of sheets & plates are weak, lacking bullish drivers. Focus remains on the cost side, whether from reality or expectations-driven sentiment fluctuations. Overall, sheets & plates are still consolidating in the near term.

From July 1, a 50% out-of-quota tariff grabs the headlines — but for stainless steel, the real rule change is "melt-and-pour" origin, and it rewrites who counts as the producer.

[SMM Analysis] Finished Product Prices Fall in Tandem, Stainless Steel Mill Profits Slightly Compressed This week, stainless steel prices and production costs declined in tandem, with steel mill profit margins narrowing slightly. Using 304 cold-rolling as the assessment basis, the profit margin calculated with current raw material costs stood at 2.28%, while that based on inventory raw materials was 2.1%. On the nickel-based raw material cost side, high-grade NPI prices showed a downward pullback this week. Affected by weakening SHFE nickel and SS futures, coupled with disturbances from Indonesian nickel ore news, although NPI producers and traders maintained a strong willingness to hold prices firm, expectations of off-season maintenance and production cuts at stainless steel mills and the pullback in stainless steel prices led to low acceptance of high-priced raw materials, driving high-grade NPI prices to decline and pull back. As of this Friday, high-grade NPI with a mainstream grade of 10%-12% fell by 8.5 yuan per nickel unit, closing at 1,141 yuan per nickel unit. In the stainless steel scrap market, prices fell in tandem this week. SS futures pulled back and stainless steel finished product prices declined, dragging down stainless steel scrap. Currently in the traditional consumption off-season, end-use demand is weak, and expectations of lower steel scrap demand due to mill production cuts and maintenance, along with bearish macro sentiment, led to more cautious purchasing attitudes. Although stainless steel scrap holds an economic advantage over NPI and finds some bottom support, it is struggling to withstand the combined weight of multiple bearish factors, and the short-term market remains under pressure. As of this Friday, mainstream 304 off-cuts in Shanghai fell by 50 yuan/mt, with the latest quotation at approximately 10,500 yuan/mt. On the chrome-based raw material cost side, high-carbon ferrochrome prices continued to edge down this week. This week, TISCO and Tsingshan successively...

The most-traded HRC futures contract closed at 3,327 today, down 0.27% for the day. In the spot market, HRC prices fell by 10-20 yuan/mt, cold-rolled coil prices remained stable, and overall trading was moderate. Supply side, according to SMM statistics, the impact from hot rolling maintenance this week was 78,100 mt, flat WoW; next week's impact from hot rolling maintenance is expected to be 23,100 mt, down 55,000 mt WoW from this week. HRC supply remained unchanged this week, and subsequent supply is expected to increase. Demand side, sheet & plate demand today was mainly characterized by just-in-time procurement, without significant demand release. Going forward, demand continued to weaken, fundamental pressures gradually emerged, and sheet & plate prices were suppressed. However, the market still has expectations for the ninth round of coke price increases. In the short term, sheet & plate prices are expected to be in the doldrums supported by costs.

Chinese Taiwan's stainless steel leader Yusco reported consolidated revenue of NT$3.69 billion for May, up 37.3% YoY and 21.6% MoM, its highest level since November last year, driven by seven consecutive months of stainless steel price increases. Cumulative revenue for the first five months reached NT$14.95 billion, still down 7.8% YoY. Supported by overall market improvement and elevated raw material costs, Yusco raised June prices for its benchmark 304 hot-rolled and cold-rolled coils by NT$2,000/ton, bringing the two-month cumulative increase to NT$6,000/ton. Downstream inventory replenishment activity continues to strengthen full-year business prospects.