[SMM Tungsten Express] March 13: European tungsten market surged sharply. Latest APT transaction prices reached $3,000/mtu, skyrocketing 36% from yesterday. Driven by this, European carbide blade scrap offers jumped to €130-140/kg, up 29% from yesterday. Market sentiment turned exuberant amid tightening supply conditions.

[SMM Copper Anode] After the holiday, scrap-derived copper anode producers in China had all resumed normal operations. From March 6 to March 12, the operating rate of SMM scrap-derived copper anode producers was 58.81%, up 10.43 percentage points MoM. As the price difference between primary metal and scrap narrowed and copper anode RCs remained high, the operating rate is expected to fall to 58.72% next week.

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

【SMM Steel】Tenaris completed the acquisition of the Beaver Falls scrap processing yard in Pennsylvania, now operated by its subsidiary Steel Recycling Services. The 39-acre site adjacent to its Koppel plant will improve coordination between scrap processing and steel production, feeding its EAF directly. Tenaris, a leading steel pipe supplier with $12bn revenue in 2025, operates globally with ~25,000 employees. This acquisition strengthens its US footprint.

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.

The Indian Stainless Steel Developers Association (ISSDA) is urging the government to permanently eliminate customs duties on imported scrap and ferroalloys and to designate chromium as a critical mineral, aiming to support the sector's capacity expansion from 7 mt to 11 mt. With domestic consumption growing at 7-8% annually, the industry is simultaneously seeking stricter protection against Chinese dumping, warning that China is diverting its over 8 mt of excess melting capacity to India, frequently by rerouting shipments through countries like Vietnam to bypass existing trade safeguards.

[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.

[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.