【SMM Steel】Indian Steel Ministry Approves AMNS India's Slurry Pipeline for New Steel Plant

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS Futures Extended Decline, Stainless Steel Spot Followed Lower with Sluggish Trading According to SMM on June 25, SS futures extended their decline and weakened. Non-ferrous metals futures continued their downtrend, and combined with the impact of yesterday’s Indonesian nickel ore quota news, SS futures fell further. As of the midday close, the most-traded SS contract settled at 14,640 yuan/mt. In the spot market, pressured by the ongoing decline in futures and the arrival of the traditional consumption off-season, the sluggish trading situation was hard to reverse, and traders showed a strong willingness to sell. Although a mainstream stainless steel mill kept its guidance price unchanged in the morning, spot quotes still fell along with futures, and trading remained sluggish. The most-traded SS futures contract. At 10:15 AM, SS2608 was reported at 14,600 yuan/mt, down 140 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for 304/2B in Wuxi were in the 370-970 yuan/mt range. In the spot market, the average price of cold-rolled 201/2B coil remained flat; cold-rolled 304/2B coil with mill edge saw its average price fall by 50 yuan/mt in Wuxi and 50 yuan/mt in Foshan; cold-rolled 316L/2B coil in Wuxi dropped by 100 yuan/mt; hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil in Wuxi fell by 50 yuan/mt; cold-rolled 430/2B coil in both Wuxi and Foshan held steady. This week, stainless steel futures and spot swung wildly. Macro expectations outside China repeatedly disrupted the futures, intensifying the tug-of-war between longs and shorts in the market. Overall, the pattern was one of macros driving futures trends, trading fluctuating with sentiment, supply tightening supporting spot, inventory remaining stable, and profits seeing a minor recovery...

The European Commission published Regulation (EU) 2026/1384, establishing the EU steel trade regime that takes effect 1 July 2026 and replaces the safeguard measures expiring 30 June. The new framework sets annual tariff-rate quotas of 18.3 million mt with a 50% out-of-quota duty, and adds a melt-and-pour origin requirement to curb circumvention. Crucially, the country-specific quota allocations are not yet set: they will come via a separate implementing act that has not been published, even as talks with several FTA partners reportedly continue. The gap leaves importers and supply chains uncertain about how the quota system will function from day one, with stainless mills among those watching the final country splits.

According to SMM statistics, both mill and social inventories experienced varying degrees of buildup. Total building materials inventory reached 8.0193 million mt, up 226,600 mt or 2.91% MoM, signaling the emergence of an inventory inflection point.