The US is expected to launch two new trade investigations into the “surplus industrial capacity” of 16 major trading partners, including China. According to officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the move could trigger new tariff measures. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun pointed out that the so-called “overcapacity” is utterly groundless, and that China firmly opposes using this as a pretext for political manipulation. Meanwhile, the European Commission also made its position clear: if the US takes actions that violate trade agreements, the EU will “respond firmly.”

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Fell Back as Steel Mill Price Adjustments Dampened Downstream Buying Interest SMM News, March 16: SS futures showed a downward pullback. Although the contract was relatively stable during Friday's night session, Monday's open was dragged lower by a broad decline across the nonferrous metals sector, with SS also pulling back to close at 14,185 yuan/mt by midday. In the spot market, affected by the decline in SS futures and an overall cut of 200 yuan/mt in the morning guidance prices from a major stainless steel mill, retail quotations in the market edged lower. Price fluctuations fueled stronger wait-and-see sentiment among downstream buyers, and intraday transactions were weak. However, market feedback indicated that transactions had been broadly steady earlier, and coupled with relatively strong expectations for the cost side of stainless steel, most market participants had not expected this round of price cuts. Traders' spot quotations fell by less than the reduction in the guidance price. The most-traded SS futures contract pulled back after falling. As of 10:15 a.m., SS2605 was quoted at 14,045 yuan/mt, down 230 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for Wuxi 304/2B were in the range of 245-445 yuan/mt. In the spot market, Wuxi cold-rolled 201/2B coils were generally stable; for cold-rolled trim-edge 304/2B coils, the average price in Wuxi fell by 50 yuan/mt and the average price in Foshan fell by 50 yuan/mt; Wuxi cold-rolled 316L/2B coils were stable; Wuxi quotations for hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils were stable; cold-rolled 430/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan were also stable. As the traditional peak consumption season of "Golden March and Silver April" begins, the stainless steel market is entering a window for demand recovery, with downstream end-users gradually resu...

After a strong start, the price of gold slipped twice to around $5,060 during this trading week. Now, it appears that gold prices might manage to stay just above $5,100 heading into the weekend, continuing the persistent sideways movement of the past five weeks.

According to EFDA, the CBAM is severely penalizing importers of screws, nuts, and other fasteners, with costs reportedly surging by 30% to 50% since the mechanism took full effect in January 2026. The EFDA attributes this drastic cost increase to structural failures by the European Commission, specifically the absence of a functioning verification system that forces importers to rely on exorbitantly high default emissions values rather than actual data. This issue is heavily compounded by a severe shortage of certified verifiers, whose accreditation is delayed until summer 2027. Warning that these bureaucratic complexities are threatening the global competitiveness of European end products like automobiles and machinery.

[Volkswagen Group's 2025 Operating Profit Plunged 53%] Germany's Volkswagen Group announced on March 10 that group revenue in 2025 was 322 billion euros, almost stable compared with 324.7 billion euros in 2024; however, operating profit plunged 53% YoY from 2024 to 8.9 billion euros, mainly due to US tariff policies, exchange-rate fluctuations, and strategic adjustments at Porsche, one of its subsidiaries. Volkswagen Group said that, as US tariff issues and competitive pressure in China still persisted, it expected to continue facing a severe situation in 2026. Revenue this year was expected to edge up by 0% to 3%, with the operating margin at between 4% and 5.5%.

Among them, the Gulf region was an important consumer market for China in the Middle East: China’s exports of aluminum plate/sheet and strip to Saudi Arabia reached 42,500 mt, and aluminum foil 58,000 mt; exports of aluminum plate/sheet and strip to the UAE reached 103,500 mt, and aluminum foil 93,800 mt; the other four countries (Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Oman) accounted for combined exports of about 22,000 mt of aluminum plate/sheet and strip and about 11,000 mt of aluminum foil.

Porsche expected sales to remain under pressure this year, as the luxury carmaker struggled to cope with tariff issues and costly adjustments related to EVs. Porsche said on Wednesday that it would seek to streamline its operations, accelerate development, and expand into higher-margin areas to address these challenges. Porsche CEO Michael Leiters said, “We will comprehensively reposition Porsche to make the company leaner, faster, and its products more attractive.”

[SMM Platinum and Palladium Weekly Review] This week (March 9–March 13), the most-traded platinum futures contract PT2606 opened at 534 yuan/gram and closed at 541.6 yuan/gram, down 15.7 yuan/gram WoW from last week’s settlement price, a decline of 2.82%. The weekly highest price was 577.85 yuan/gram, and the weekly lowest price was 522.6 yuan/gram; the most-traded palladium futures contract PD2606 opened at 408.75 yuan/gram and closed at 408.1 yuan/gram, down 13.8 yuan/gram WoW from last week’s settlement price, down 3.27% WoW from last week’s settlement price. The weekly highest price was 430 yuan/gram, and the weekly lowest price was 397 yuan/gram. Futures trading: The most-traded platinum futures contract PT2606 recorded total trading volume of 31,227 lots during the week, with total turnover of 17.368 billion yuan and open interest of 19,989 lots; open interest decreased by 1,894 lots WoW. The most-traded palladium futures contract PD2606 recorded total trading volume of 11,077 lots during the week, with total turnover of 4.616 billion yuan and open interest of 7,612 lots; open interest increased by 11 lots WoW. At present, the US–Iran conflict remained dominated by political expectations, while the reality on the ground was still unresolved. On the political-expectations front, Trump frequently released marginal de-escalation signals to curb oil prices, saying the Iran issue was only a short-term military operation and expressing willingness to engage in dialogue with Iran; the TACO trade pulled oil prices back to around 90. On the reality front, Mojtaba, son of Khamenei, formally succeeded to power, and Iran entered the “Era of Avengers,” beginning to threaten the Strait of Hormuz; its foreign minister said the new leadership would refuse to negotiate with Trump. If the US–Iran conflict continues to escalate, it will push up oil prices and trigger concerns over imported inflation in the US, thereby delaying the Fed’s progress on interest rate cuts. On tariffs, after reciprocal tariff was overturned by the Supreme Court, the Trump administration will seek a more solid legal basis to rebuild the tariff framework. The risk of re-inflation remained relatively high, and disputes over new tax rates and tax rebates lifted policy uncertainty to some extent. In the short term, Trump filled the tariff-rate vacuum through the 122 temporary tariff; in the medium and long-term, he may maintain a high-tariff framework via 232 and 301. In addition, the massive tax rebate pressure brought about after reciprocal tariff was ruled illegal will further increase the US fiscal burden, thereby reinforcing the logic of a weaker US dollar and providing support to precious metals overall. Supply side, NERSA announced it had formally approved Eskom’s electricity price adjustment plan for the next two years: electricity prices will be raised by 8.76% in April this year and raised again by 8.83% in April 2027. As South Africa’s PGM mining is highly dependent on electricity, rising electricity prices will continue to lift the cost center for platinum and palladium. The US Department of Commerce issued an announcement, making an affirmative preliminary anti-dumping determination on unwrought palladium imported from Russia, preliminarily determining the dumping margin for all Russian exporters/producers at 132.83%. In terms of valuation, watch changes in the US dollar index, which involve the relative strength of currencies such as the euro and the yen. Pay attention to details on the new administrator announced by the LME. Pay attention to the March 19 FOMC meeting, changes in economic data, and the impact of Wosh’s remarks on monetary policy expectations. The precious metals sector mainly benefited from the policy and political-environment tug-of-war during the US Fed’s midterm-election time window. From a medium- and long-term perspective, the foundation for a bull market in platinum and palladium remained intact. In the short term, be alert to the risk of a phased adjustment driven by a delay in expectations for an interest rate cut; pullbacks should be viewed as medium- and long-term opportunities to add long positions. Amid high fluctuations in platinum and palladium, pay attention to position sizing. As domestic and overseas markets are not continuous, the opening price of platinum and palladium often references the overseas night session; investors should monitor trading prices in international markets and be wary of opening gaps. Spot market, this week most traders holding cargo actively quoted prices. Some traders reported that supply was currently relatively ample while the market was relatively sluggish. Most downstream clients had sufficient inventory and mainly stayed on the sidelines, with only some downstream buyers making small, negotiated purchases to meet order demand. Along with continued cooling in investment demand, transactions were relatively difficult and price involution was severe. Overall, spot market trading this week was generally subdued.

[SMM Analysis] On March 12, 2026, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled against imposing tariffs on Chinese graphite imports. Below is the complete timeline of the US anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations into active anode material (graphite anode) from China, the duty rates at each stage, and the latest results as of March 12, 2026.

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Held Up Well, Spot Prices Remained Stable with Just-in-Time Procurement Dominating SMM News, March 12: SS futures showed a firm sideways movement. As geopolitical tensions in Iran continued to escalate and the US restarted the tariff war, macro news still had a notable disruptive effect on futures, and SS futures had yet to show a clear direction, closing at 14,245 yuan/mt by the midday break. In the spot market, affected by the sideways movement in futures, spot quotations continued to hold steady. Although the market has entered the traditional peak consumption season and downstream demand has recovered somewhat, expectations of high supply capped sentiment, limiting market acceptance of high-priced cargoes. Downstream players mainly made just-in-time procurement, while traders actively shipped goods for destocking. The most-traded SS futures contract fluctuated higher. At 10:15 a.m., SS2605 was quoted at 14,290 yuan/mt, up 170 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for 304/2B in Wuxi stood at 230-430 yuan/mt. In the spot market, cold-rolled 201/2B coils in Wuxi were generally stable; for cold-rolled trimmed-edge 304/2B coils, average prices in Wuxi and Foshan both held steady; cold-rolled 316L/2B coils in Wuxi remained stable; for hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils, Wuxi quotations held steady; and cold-rolled 430/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan were also stable. As the market entered the traditional peak consumption season of "Golden March and Silver April," the stainless steel market saw a window for demand recovery. The downstream side gradually resumed work and production after the Chinese New Year holiday, and demand showed a trend of gradual recovery. However, although transactions improved from the previous period, the market still did not show the briskness typical of the peak season, and end-user procurement was mainly...