Tinci Materials said its electrolyte and lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF₆) production facilities are operating at near full capacity. Driven by continued growth in energy storage battery demand, the company expects its electrolyte production schedule to increase further in Q3 2026. Its planned 35,000-tpy LiPF₆ capacity expansion remains on track for commissioning in the second half of 2026, with capacity ramp-up to be adjusted according to market conditions and customer demand.

Fosu Technology expects H1 2026 net profit of RMB 800 million-1.05 billion, up 1,410%-1,882% YoY. The company said the increase was mainly driven by the consolidation of Jinli New Energy following a major asset restructuring, making lithium battery separators a new growth driver. One-off gains from the acquisition also contributed to earnings.

On July 14, China Northern Rare Earth's stock price rose. As of the close on July 14, it was up 2.18% to 39.83 yuan per share. In market news, China Northern Rare Earth released its semi-annual earnings forecast, showing: Based on preliminary estimates by the company's financial department, net profit attributable to owners of the parent for H1 2026 is expected to be between 1.98 billion and 2.06 billion yuan, representing an increase of 1.05 billion to 1.13 billion yuan compared with the same period last year (as per statutory disclosure data), up 112.74% to 121.33% YoY. Excluding non-recurring items, net profit attributable to owners of the parent for H1 2026 is expected to be between 1.99 billion and 2.07 billion yuan, an increase of 1.093 billion to 1.173 billion yuan YoY, up 121.90% to 130.82%. The main reasons for the expected profit increase in the period are: In H1 2026, the company served the national rare earth resource strategy and fully implemented the requirements for safety control of the rare earth industry chain. Affected by factors such as supply constraints on the raw material side and the release and sustained growth of downstream demand at multiple points, rare earth product prices generally strengthened and consolidated. The company focused on its annual production and operation targets, carried out integrated planning and comprehensive measures, strengthened comprehensive budget management, and worked on cost reduction, quality improvement, and efficiency gains in a coordinated manner. It scientifically organized production scheduling, intensified marketing operations, deepened reform and innovation, and strengthened group management and risk control. The company advanced the deep integration of professional management, lean management, and 5S management to a high standard, promoted key project construction, and accelerated the development of new quality productive forces through management and R&D innovation. With strong value creation capabilities across the industry chain and core competitiveness, the company provided solid support and assurance for achieving good operating results. The company refined the organization and operation of production scientifically, with production volumes of rare earth smelting and separation products, rare earth metal products, and new rare earth materials all reaching historical highs for the same period; the subsidiary Inner Mongolia Northern Rare Earth Magnetic Materials Co., Ltd. achieved operating revenue of approximately 9.5 billion yuan in H1, up about 107% YoY, maintaining growth for three consecutive years; the subsidiary Inner Mongolia Xi'ao Ke Hydrogen Storage Alloy Co., Ltd. officially put its first batch of 1,000 hydrogen-powered two-wheelers into operation in Baotou, with a cumulative safe driving mileage of 170,000 kilometers, demonstrating notable project success. The company persisted in benchmarking against internal and external excellence, tapping into internal potential, and strengthening refined management, leading to significant improvements in multiple economic and technical indicators. Targeted measures were adopted for each business segment: In smelting and separation, the division overcame new cost changes brought by rising prices of raw and auxiliary materials, effectively managed cost fluctuations, scientifically organized production scheduling, and ensured new product supply demands. In rare earth metals, leveraging the concept of lean production as a starting point, digital and intelligent methods were further used to strengthen on-site process operation management, driving new breakthroughs in economic and technical indicators such as quality and material ratios. In new rare earth materials and applications, the segment fully utilized newly added capacity advantages, precisely aligned with client needs, and made new progress in promoting sales through production. Deepening industry chain synergy, the Company solidified the foundation of downstream client cooperation while ensuring stable product supply. The Company closely tracked market demand, strengthened marketing management, optimized sales structure, client credit evaluation, and product account period management, adjusted and shortened account periods by category, secured the fundamental base with long-term agreement orders, and met differentiated market demand through retail. Sales of rare earth metals and magnetic materials rose steadily, achieving full coverage of top-tier magnetic material players; sales of lanthanum-cerium products increased YoY, further digesting historical inventory; sales of polishing materials increased YoY; 5 new equipment items and 20 customized and distinctive new products were developed, continuously expanding product application scenarios. Key project construction advanced efficiently, continuously enhancing intelligence and informatization levels. The first phase of the rare earth green smelting upgrade and transformation project has been put into production, with the entire production line connected; the second phase construction is progressing in an orderly manner. Projects across the industry chain, including mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, joint ventures, cooperation, and capacity expansion and production increase for rare earth metals, magnetic material alloys, magnets, and secondary resource utilization, are accelerating toward implementation. The secondary resource utilization project achieved volume increase and quality and efficiency improvement; the Company accelerated its pace of digital and intelligent transformation, with digitalization and intelligence levels continuously improving. Regarding the 2026 operating plan, China Northern Rare Earth announced in its 2025 annual report: 2026 is the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan and a crucial year for the Company to advance high-quality development and accelerate the building of a world-class rare earth leader. The Company will uphold Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as its guide, take fostering a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation as the main theme, fully implement the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress and all previous plenary sessions of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and translate into action the important speeches and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on Inner Mongolia and the rare earth industry, as well as the decisions and plans of higher-level authorities such as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Baotou City. Adhering to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, the Company will fully, accurately, and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, bravely shoulder its responsibilities and missions, steadily improve the quality and efficiency of operations, build an industry system covering all elements and categories, promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation with industrial innovation, accelerate the pace of deepening reforms, enhance modern governance capabilities, continuously strengthen core functions and enhance core competitiveness, accelerate the realization of a world-class rare earth leader, ensure a good start and solid beginning for the 15th Five-Year Plan, and make new and greater contributions to the construction of the "Two Rare Earth Bases." The main production and operation targets for 2026 (these targets are merely planned objectives, and there is uncertainty as to whether they can ultimately be achieved. They do not constitute a substantive commitment by the Company to investors. Investors and relevant parties should maintain sufficient risk awareness and understand the differences between plans, forecasts, and commitments): achieve operating revenue of 44 billion yuan or more, and total profit of 3.5 billion yuan or more. While achieving operational targets, employee compensation is linked to enterprise economic performance and labor productivity in the same direction. Looking back at the price trend of Pr-Nd oxide in H1, SMM data show that it started the year at 609,000 yuan/mt, then hit a H1 high of 890,000 yuan/mt by the month-end of February, marking a cumulative increase of up to 46.7% from the beginning of the year. The core driver came from the supply side: spot Pr-Nd oxide remained tight, futures surged sharply, suppliers held back from selling amid strong bullish sentiment, and metals enterprises were stockpiling ahead of holidays, all of which pushed prices up rapidly. At the same time, disruptions in Myanmar ore supply, domestic separation plants resuming production slower than expectations, and boosted market sentiment formed a combined effect of "undersupply + bullish holdback." However, during March-April, affected by bearish supply-side news and lackluster demand from end-user traditional sectors, the Pr-Nd oxide price quickly pulled back to around 700,000 yuan/mt. That said, the rise in China Northern Rare Earth's concentrate prices in April, supply support from production halts at separation plants, and the release of export orders under the export control extension window jointly drove prices to rebound slightly. Starting in May, the downstream gradually entered the off-season, and purchasing became more cautious. It was not until late June that the Pr-Nd oxide price was boosted again by factors including the official implementation of the Mineral Resources Law Implementation Regulations, which designates rare earths as strategic minerals, and production cuts at scrap recycling enterprises due to tax invoice issues, rebounding to 7.425 billion yuan/mt on June 30. According to SMM quotes, as of July 14, the average price of Pr-Nd oxide was 762,500 yuan/mt, down 0.33% from the previous trading day. Currently, influenced by the intense tug-of-war between upstream and downstream, the oxide market is experiencing significant price fluctuations, while the metals market is relatively sluggish in terms of inquiries, with suppliers holding their quotes relatively firm and showing no obvious adjustments. In the short term, as some raw ore separation and scrap recycling plants undergo production cuts and suspensions, oxide suppliers' willingness to sell at low prices is weak, which is expected to drive Pr-Nd product prices to drift higher. Recommended reading:

SMM Steel, July 14 – According to SMM statistics, this week, total estimated shipments of mainstream market resources reached 247,600 mt, up 37.02% WoW. By market: Table 1: Arrivals Comparison by Mainstream Market Data source: SMM Steel Shanghai Market: This week, HRC shipments in the Shanghai market increased from last week. Specifically, shipment volumes from the Northeast market declined, possibly affected to some extent by recent typhoon weather; shipment levels from the South China market were low earlier, but rose markedly this week. Under the combined influence, HRC shipments rebounded WoW. Looking ahead, as the impact of the typhoon gradually eases, shipments from some northern markets are expected to increase. Chart-1: Shanghai Market Arrivals Data source: SMM Steel Lecong Market: This week, shipments to Lecong increased. Specifically, North China resources remained stable, while both major mainstream sources posted WoW gains, driving overall arrivals further upward. Looking ahead, as the typhoon impact in South China gradually fades and no new maintenance emerges for the two major mainstream sources, arrivals are expected to continue growing in the short term. Chart-2: Lecong Market Arrivals Data source: SMM Steel SMM releases mainstream market HRC shipment data every Tuesday. For subscriptions or more data, please scan the QR code below.

[SMM Magnesium Express]Today, according to China Securities Journal, Xu Hong, Chairman of Yongmaotai, elaborated systematically on the company's magnesium alloy strategic layout in an exclusive interview. The company defines its magnesium alloy business as a "second growth curve," establishing a magnesium alloy division and building new magnesium alloy die-casting factories in two major bases in Anhui and Chongqing. The planned production lines will exceed 20, covering models from 650T to 7000T, and introduce semi-solid forming technology, targeting core structural components such as automotive instrument panel beams, electric drive housings, and rear floor panels. Xu Hong noted that by 2030, the per-vehicle magnesium usage in China is expected to increase from the current 8 kilograms to 45 kilograms, corresponding to an incremental market of approximately 50 billion yuan. As production capacity gradually ramps up, the large-scale application of magnesium alloy in automotive and robotics sectors is anticipated to accelerate.

An operator quoted 100,000 per month per unit for H100, including rack and electricity, while another operator received a quote of 78,000 and considered the price spread too large; a colleague from an internet company referred the needs of two clients (outright purchase of H20/L20 units plus leasing of 12 high-end complete computing servers), but matching high-end computing power proved difficult; a leading non-ferrous metals company has locked in a long-term computing power agreement, with demand steady and firming; liquid-cooling stainless steel materials have achieved mass production and supply, yet they have not reached the threshold for capacity expansion; for domestic GPUs, official supply is ample while channel supply remains tight, with capacity tilted toward large clients.

FAW Jiefang announced on July 13 that its net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies for the first half of 2026 is projected to range from 270 million yuan to 320 million yuan, representing a year-on-year jump of 1,274% to 1,528%. During the reporting period, the company drove sales growth by continuously optimizing product mix, expanding overseas presence and tapping into full-chain service value. Meanwhile, it advanced lean operation management, strictly controlled costs and expenses to boost profitability. Driven by coordinated efforts across products, overseas business, services and cost control, the firm saw simultaneous improvements in operational resilience and quality, leading to a sharp year-on-year surge in net profit.

During the survey period (July 7 - July 13), in Central China, the rebar operating rate and capacity utilization rate edged down; the coiled rebar operating rate remained stable, while its capacity utilization rate edged down.

Intraday, multiple ferrous metals futures turned positive, with the most-traded HRC contract closing at 3302, up 0.67%. In the spot market, cold-rolled and hot-rolled prices edged up within the day, trading performance was moderate, improving MoM. News-wise, disturbances from the raw material side intensified intraday, driving HRC futures to strengthen. Fundamentally, the impact of steel mill maintenance is rising in July, and production is expected to remain at medium-to-low levels. Against the backdrop of the off-season, inventory will gradually accumulate in July. In other aspects, there are still expectations for macro meetings in late July, and the cost side still faces periodic stimulus from raw material ore and coke. Short-term sheets & plates prices are expected to fluctuate following cost trends. Considering HRC fundamentals are hard to provide strong price drivers, the upside room for prices driven by periodic macro and cost stimulus is temporarily limited. Attention is on the most-traded HRC contract at 3330-3350.

During the day, futures of multiple ferrous metals varieties were in positive territory, with the most-traded HRC contract settling at 3,302, up 0.67%. In the spot market, cold-rolled and hot-rolled prices edged up during the day, with transaction performance on the moderate side, improving MoM. On the news front, disturbance at the raw material end intensified during the day, and HRC futures strengthened in tandem. From a fundamental perspective, the impact of steel mill maintenance increased in July, and production is expected to remain at a medium-to-low level. Against the off-season backdrop, inventory is expected to accumulate slowly in July. On other fronts, expectations for macro meetings persist in late July, and the cost side still faces periodic stimuli from raw material iron ore and coke. It is expected that in the short term, sheets & plates prices will fluctuate along with cost trends. Considering that HRC fundamentals are unlikely to provide strong price momentum, the upside room for prices from macro and periodic cost stimuli is temporarily limited. The most-traded HRC contract is focused on the 3,330-3,350 range.