5.18 SMM Global Steel Daily Report

Today Iron ore futures trended weaker with the most-traded contract I2609 closed at 803 yuan/mt, down 1.11% from the previous trading session. Port spot prices were 2-4 yuan higher than the previous day. Traders showed moderate enthusiasm in offering; steel mill purchases were mostly driven by rigid demand; overall spot trading sentiment was lukewarm.

[SMM Hot-Rolled Coil Daily Trading] On May 18, the combined daily trading volume of hot-rolled coil from SMM's sample enterprises across four cities (Shanghai, Lecong, Tianjin, and Ningbo) totaled 13,070 mt, down 610 mt DoD (-4.5%), up 12.00% YoY (solar calendar), and up 22.84% YoY (lunar calendar).

[SMM Steel] The European Commission released a draft regulation clarifying how importers can deduct carbon costs already paid in third countries from CBAM certificate obligations. The draft outlines detailed rules covering carbon price calculation methods, verification procedures, supporting documents, and supply chain traceability requirements. Under the proposal, companies can offset carbon taxes, carbon fees, or ETS costs paid in the production country only if the costs are directly linked to product emissions, exclude government subsidies or rebates, and are supported by transparent and verifiable emissions data. The regulation is expected to become a key supporting framework for CBAM’s full operational phase.