It is learned from the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. that on March 10, Zhejiang's maximum output of photovoltaic power exceeded 40 million kilowatts for the first time, reaching 42.52 million kilowatts, accounting for about 49% of the real-time load of the whole society. In recent years, under the leadership of the "double carbon" strategy, Zhejiang has been accelerating the construction of a new power system and a new energy system, and new energy represented by photovoltaics has developed rapidly, and has played an important role in Zhejiang's power supply guarantee and the clean energy production and consumption process in Zhejiang. According to the data of State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power, by the end of 2025, the installed capacity of wind and photovoltaic new energy i

Recently, construction began on the annual output project of 8,000 mt of aluminum alloy products by Henan Yuanguangcheng New Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yuanguangcheng Technology”) in the Queshan County Development Zone. This marked a critical step forward for Queshan County in advancing advanced manufacturing and improving the intelligent equipment manufacturing industry chain. The project is located on the southwest side of Gongye 1st Road and Kaiyuan Road in the Queshan County Development Zone, covering nearly 30 mu, with a total investment of 81 million yuan. It is expected to build high-standard factory buildings and modern production lines, with a total construction area of 25,000 m².

On March 11, the low-grade bauxite comprehensive utilization project in Wuchuan Autonomous County was fully completed. The project is located in Canglang Community, Zhuoshui Town, Wuchuan Autonomous County, with a total investment of 110 million yuan. After the project begins operation, it is expected to process 300,000 mt/year of low-grade bauxite and mine waste slag, produce about 160,000 mt/year of aluminum concentrate ore, and generate annual output value of up to 100 million yuan. It was understood that the aluminum concentrate produced by the low-grade bauxite comprehensive utilization project will be supplied directly to SPIC (Zunyi) Industrial Development Co., Ltd., gradually forming a closed-loop industry chain from mining and waste slag comprehensive utilization to deep process.

According to the Fu'an City Development and Reform Bureau, as outlined in its 2026 economic and social development plan released on March 6, the city is set to continuously consolidate its leading advantage in the stainless steel new materials industry. A key focus for the year is accelerating the construction and implementation of major downstream projects, specifically highlighting Runhengxin's 600,000-ton stainless steel cold-rolling project and a new titanium alloy materials manufacturing industrial park. Through these strategic capacity expansions, Fu'an aims to push the total output value of its stainless steel new materials industry to 246 billion RMB in 2026, targeting a year-on-year growth rate of over 5%.

Recently, the 500 kV transmission and transformation project of Jiri (Kusha II) was officially approved by the Energy Bureau of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, marking a good start for the power grid construction of Ordos City in the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan. The project is located in the territory of Hangjin Banner, with a total investment of 1.52554 billion yuan. It is a key hub project to ensure the output and consumption of new energy power in the northwestern region of Hangjin Banner. The project plans to build one 500 kV substation and about 194 km of 500 k V lines, which will pass through Hangjin Banner and Dalad Banner.

【SMM Copper Cathode Rod Flash News】This week, the operating rate of the copper cathode rod enterprise industry increased by 10.45 percentage points WoW. The pullback in copper prices drove a surge in orders, enterprises accelerated their production pace, and operating rates at downstream wire and cable and enamelled wire producers rebounded steadily. Enterprises were expected to continue raising output and restocking next week, while downstream orders were expected to remain stable. SMM expected the operating rate to increase by 6.27 percentage points WoW to 79.19%.

After the Chinese New Year, the PV power generation project in the relocation resettlement area of Gaoluo Subdistrict, Ceheng County, Guizhou Province, quickly resumed work and production, carrying out final engineering work such as ground clearing and cable trench restoration, as well as grid connection commissioning. The project has a total installed capacity of 3,200 kW, with annual power generation expected to exceed 1.13 million kWh and annual output value of about 390,000 yuan. It will also provide 450 parking spaces in carports, and part of the revenue will be used for community management and to strengthen the collective village economy.

[Secondary Lead Production Update] A large secondary lead smelter in east China recently resumed production and is currently producing around 200 mt of refined lead per day. Production is expected to recover to 500-600 mt/day starting next week.

This week (March 06, 2026–March 12, 2026), the average operating rate of primary lead smelters in three provinces was 56.97, up 4.11 percentage points WoW from the previous week after the Spring Festival. This week, smelters in Henan maintained stable production. In Hunan, the smelter that resumed operations at the end of last week’s maintenance raised output as scheduled this week, while some smelters in the region had yet to fully recover and are expected to return to normal production next week; in Yunnan, smelters only slightly increased output this week after resuming production, and some small-scale smelters had yet to resume production.

Brazil's iron ore exports dropped to 25.37 million mt in February 2026, a 12.5% decrease from January. Weather disruptions and operational setbacks at Vale's Viga and Fabrica Nova operations in Minas Gerais contributed to the softer shipment figures, despite Brazil’s 2026 annual output forecast remaining at 489 million mt