[SMM Nickel Flash] Supply side, cost support was evident, and most pig iron plants kept quotations at high levels, but under pressure from steel scrap and the end-user market, some traders' quotations came under pressure. Demand side, high-content NPI remained in short supply, and premiums between grades were obvious. Overall, amid back-and-forth negotiations between upstream and downstream, high-grade NPI prices were flat.

[SMM Daily Review: Back-and-Forth Negotiations Between Upstream and Downstream in High-Grade NPI, Prices Held Flat While Grade Premiums Remained High] March 31 News: SMM's upstream sentiment factor for high-grade NPI was 2.78, down 0.05 MoM, while the downstream sentiment factor for high-grade NPI was 1.54, flat MoM.

SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Overnight, LME copper opened at $12,223/mt. In early trading, it saw wide swings and climbed to $12,278/mt. Subsequently, the center of copper prices moved straight downward to a low of $12,153.5/mt, before fluctuating widely again and finally closing at $12,195/mt, up 0.44. Trading volume reached 15,300 lots, and open interest stood at 295,000 lots, down 454 lots from the previous trading day. Overnight, the most-traded SHFE copper 2605 contract opened at 96,100 yuan/mt and hit a high of 96,240 yuan/mt in early trading. Subsequently, the center of copper prices gradually moved lower to 95,210 yuan/mt, before fluctuating rangebound and finally closing at 95,350 yuan/mt, down 0.05. Trading volume reached 36,500 lots, and open interest stood at 183,000 lots, down 2,394 lots from the previous trading day, mainly due to bulls reducing positions.

[SMM Lead Morning Meeting Summary: Macro Factors and Fundamentals Present Both Bullish and Bearish Signals, and Lead Prices May Continue to Consolidate in the Short Term] Fed Chairman Powell released dovish signals, and the market once again bet on the possibility of an interest rate cut within the year. Recently, production at primary lead and secondary lead smelters has resumed, supply has been relatively ample, and imported lead has continued to flow into China...

[SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Dovish Remarks by the US Fed Drove Zinc Prices Higher] Overnight, LME zinc recorded a bullish candlestick, with the 20-day daily average above acting as resistance. Overnight, dovish remarks by the US Fed boosted market sentiment, while LME Cash-3M shifted to a backwardation structure......

As of March 30, the closing price of the most-traded HRC futures contract was 3,307. In March, the SMM national average spot price for HRC was 3,265.93 yuan/mt, with the monthly average price up 0.72% MoM.

US President Trump said on the 29th that Iran allowed 10 oil tankers flying the Pakistani flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz last week, and the number has now risen to 20. He told the UK's Financial Times, “These tankers have already set sail and are heading straight through the middle of the strait.” Qalibaf, speaker of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, approved the relevant decision. On the 23rd, Qalibaf posted on social media denying any negotiations with the US. Qalibaf said that spreading “fake news is intended to manipulate the financial and oil markets, thereby enabling the US and Israel to extricate themselves from the quagmire they are deeply mired in.”

1. Procurement Conditions The purchaser of this procurement project, Pangang Vanadium April 2026 Gansu PCI Semi Coke (PGWZMYHHD260327277329), is the Fuel Division of Pangang Group Materials Trading Co., Ltd. The funds for the procurement project were self-raised. The project had met the procurement conditions, and a public single-round negotiation was now conducted. 2. Project Overview and Procurement Scope 2.1 Project Name: Pangang Vanadium April 2026 Gansu PCI Semi Coke 2.2 Alternative Procurement Method in Case of Procurement Failure: Direct procurement 2.3 For the content, scope, and scale of this project procurement, please refer to the attachment "Material List Attachment.pdf" for details. 3. Bidder Qualification Requirements 3.1 Consortium bidding was not allowed in this procurement. 3.2 This procurement required bidders to have the following qualification requirements: (1) Trading business license (2) Manufacturing business license 3.3 This procurement required bidders to meet the following registered capital requirements: Manufacturing registered capital: 5 million yuan and above Trading registered capital: 5 million yuan and above 3.4 This procurement required bidders to have the following performance requirements: Bidders were required to provide similar project performance from January 1, 2023 to the bid submission deadline (copies of contracts must be provided), as well as scanned copies of VAT invoices for the relevant performance. 3.5 This procurement required bidders to have the following capability requirements, financial requirements, and other requirements: Financial requirements: The registered capital of the bidder for this project shall not be less than 5 million yuan, and multiple awards were allowed for this project. The registered capital of bidders that are manufacturing suppliers or trading suppliers shall not be less than 30% of the amount (excluding tax) of the section or bid quantity amount for which they bid; Capability requirements: See the attachment for details (if applicable) Other requirements: (1) Scanned copy of the business license (or duplicate); (2) Scanned copy of the tax registration certificate (or duplicate) (except where the three certificates have been combined into one); (3) Scanned copy of the organization code certificate (or duplicate) (except where the three certificates have been combined into one). (4) New suppliers (those that did not provide a copy of a Pangang contract within the past 6 months under the performance requirements were deemed new suppliers) were required to provide, at the time of bidding, a sample review qualification report issued by Pangang's technical quality department or another state-owned detection entity, valid for three months and dated no earlier than the date of publication of the tender announcement. 3.6 For projects that were legally required to undergo tender, bids submitted by dishonest persons subject to enforcement were invalid. 4. Access to the Procurement Documents 4.1 Any bidder intending to participate was requested to log in to the Angang Intelligent Tender and Bidding Platform at http://bid.ansteel.cn from 13:45 on March 28, 2026 to 13:45 on March 30, 2026 (Beijing time, the same hereinafter) to download the electronic procurement documents. Click to View Tender Details:

This week, ferrous metals retreated after a rapid rise. At the beginning of the week, the market said that Asia had shifted to coal-fired power generation due to a natural gas supply deficit, while Indonesia would increase coal production and impose export taxes. The rise in international coal prices was transmitted to China, and coking coal and coke led the gains in ferrous metals; mid-week, the Middle East situation remained volatile, and the U.S. and Iran held differing attitudes toward war, with ferrous metals consolidating at high levels; the pullback in the second half of the week was also mainly due to the weakening of the cost-side logic, as market rumors said long-term iron ore contract negotiations had been completed, expectations for tightening iron ore supply declined, and raw materials turned into the main driver of the pullback. In the spot market, speculative trading and end-user purchase sentiment improved in the first half of the week, while rigid demand remained dominant in the second half, and the spot-futures price spread widened somewhat......

This week, the tungsten market showed a divergent trend with mild corrections in domestic prices and a contrarian rise in overseas APT prices. Domestic tungsten concentrate and midstream product prices remained relatively firm, while scrap tungsten prices dropped sharply as profit-taking emerged. Supported by a tight supply-demand balance, overseas markets strengthened, further widening the price gap between domestic and international markets.