Hyundai Motor Group announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Zhejiang Huayou Recycling Technology, a subsidiary of China’s Huayou Cobalt, to jointly build an electric vehicle (EV) battery circular economy in Indonesia. Under the agreement, the two parties plan to collect battery scrap generated during production at HLI Green Power, the joint battery cell plant established by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution in Indonesia. The scrap will be pre-treated at Huayou Recycling’s local facilities and crushed into “black mass,” a powder containing various metals, from which key minerals can later be extracted and reused in battery manufacturing.

[SMM Tin Morning Briefing: The Most-Traded SHFE Tin Contract Opened Sharply Lower in the Night Session and Remained Rangebound at Low Levels, While Trading in the Spot Market Was Relatively Mediocre]

[SMM Morning Comment on Cast Aluminum Alloy: Alloy Prices Continued to Hover at Highs, While Market Demand Was Significantly Suppressed] This week, secondary aluminum alloy prices continued to rise, but the pace of demand follow-up was relatively slow. In the short term, raw material costs remained at high levels, providing strong support for ADC12 prices; however, if prices continue to rise, the suppressive effect of high prices on demand will become increasingly evident. Meanwhile, as operating rates gradually recover, there are also expectations of a mild increase on the supply side. ADC12 prices are expected to fluctuate at highs in the short term. Going forward, it is recommended to focus on the pace of downstream order release, the pressure on the market from the supply recovery process, and the impact of the Middle East situation on aluminum prices.

[SMM Aluminum Morning Meeting Summary: The SHFE/LME Price Ratio Continued to Weaken, and Aluminum Prices Were Expected to Fluctuate at Highs in the Short Term] Against the backdrop of continued tightening LME liquidity, LME aluminum still had upward momentum, with strong support from overseas prices, and the backwardation structure was expected to persist in the short term. China was in a phase of high inventory + weak fundamentals, and its upward momentum was clearly weaker than that outside China. Amid diverging domestic and external drivers, the SHFE/LME price ratio was expected to continue weakening, and aluminum prices were expected to continue fluctuating at highs in the short term.

SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Overnight, LME copper opened at $13,044/mt. It touched a high of $13,063.5/mt in early trading, then the center moved lower to a low of $12,929/mt, and finally closed at $12,948.5/mt, down 0.77%. Trading volume came in at 17,000 lots, down 235 lots from the previous trading day; open interest stood at 304,000 lots, up 279 lots from the previous trading day, mainly reflecting an increase in bears' positions overall. Overnight, the most-traded SHFE copper 2604 contract opened at 101,240 yuan/mt. It touched a high of 101,240 yuan/mt at the open, then the center moved lower to a low of 100,560 yuan/mt, and finally closed at 100,860 yuan/mt, down 0.15%. Trading volume came in at 26,000 lots, down 62,000 lots from the previous trading day; open interest stood at 189,000 lots, down 3,320 lots from the previous trading day, mainly reflecting a reduction in bulls' positions overall.

[[Weekly Review of Aluminum Scrap and Secondary Aluminum]]Aluminum Prices Strengthened This Week, Rising Costs Drove Up ADC12 Prices

This week, prices for some Grade-B battery cells in the second-life battery market rose. Cost side, lithium carbonate prices fluctuated more sharply this week and showed an overall upward trend, directly pushing up battery cell production costs; nickel sulphate prices edged up, while cobalt sulphate prices remained stable, providing mild support on the cost side and lifting overall cost pressure somewhat. Supply side, the market was clearly boosted by energy storage demand, enterprises showed relatively strong willingness to sell, and circulating supply was steadily released; coupled with rising lithium carbonate prices, enterprises' expectations for higher costs strengthened, and overall pricing sentiment remained firm to slightly stronger. Demand side, demand for second-life Grade-B battery cells recovered significantly, mainly driven by the energy storage market, as downstream energy storage projects commenced and supporting demand continued to be released, noticeably boosting procurement enthusiasm.

This week，the solid-state battery industry showed a dual-engine momentum driven by "intensive breakthroughs on the technology front and targeted solutions on the policy front." CATL disclosed a sulphide patent, Zhongkeyuanben's 20Ah all-solid-state battery passed third-party detection, and Dreame Technology released a 450Wh/kg product; Guangdong took the lead in incorporating diversified solid-state battery technology routes and eVTOL scenarios into provincial-level action plans.

On the demand side, the EV battery market has seen order contractions compared to earlier expectations, impacted by lackluster new energy vehicle sales both domestically and internationally.

[SMM Rare Earth Weekly Review: Rare Earth Prices Fell First, Then Rose; Pr-Nd, Dysprosium, and Terbium Saw Wide Swings] Due to the combined impact of market news and falling futures prices, suppliers in the Pr-Nd oxide market lacked confidence in the future market and proactively cut prices for shipments. However, upstream separation plants believed that the tight supply pattern of Pr-Nd oxide had not changed. Therefore, Pr-Nd oxide prices pulled back to 760,000-780,000 yuan/mt before rebounding to 790,000-800,000 yuan/mt.