The most-traded SHFE tin contract continued to climb during the night session; spot market trading was lackluster [SMM Tin Morning Update].

June 12, 2026 SMM Tin Morning Brief:

Futures: The most-traded SHFE tin contract continued to climb in the night session, with the price center remaining near 400,000 yuan/mt, closing at 406,500 yuan/mt, up 1.91%.

Macro: (1) Amazon founder Bezos said he expects AI to lead to "labor shortages in the economy," dismissing concerns that the rapidly advancing technology will replace human jobs. Meanwhile, he is launching a new project aimed at improving engineer efficiency. Bezos is currently co-leading a new AI company called Prometheus, which plans to build a "generalized AI engineer" capable of designing and manufacturing complex physical products like jet engines. In an interview, Bezos stated that the company's goal is to "empower engineers to make inventing easier and faster, enabling smaller teams to achieve more ambitious projects in shorter timeframes." Bezos also noted that some of the pessimism among young people about AI is "contrary to reality." He remarked that while AI will reduce demand for labor in existing roles, it will also create more job opportunities and boost productivity. (2) SEMI released the latest "Global Semiconductor Equipment Market Statistics Report" on the 11th. Data shows that in Q1 2026, global semiconductor equipment sales reached $36.55 billion, up 1% QoQ and 14% YoY, setting a new single-quarter record high. In terms of regional ranking, South Korea surpassed Taiwan, China to rank second globally. SEMI noted that in Q1 of this year, the semiconductor equipment market continued to benefit from the AI investment boom, with global semiconductor companies accelerating expansion and technology upgrades. Related investments were mainly directed at advanced logic processes, DRAM, and advanced packaging, continuing to boost the equipment market size.

Fundamentals: (1) Supply side, in June, most smelters focused on stable production. (2) Demand side, downstream purchases remained cautious, with procurement conducted on an order-by-order basis.

Spot market: As futures prices have declined continuously recently, the downstream rigid demand release triggered by the absolute price decline in the previous days has largely concluded. Although futures continued to fall yesterday, it failed to attract follow-up buying in bulk. The stimulative effect of earlier price drops on consumption showed clear signs of marginal weakening.

[Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are based on public information, market communication, and SMM's internal database models, processed by SMM, for reference only, and do not constitute decision-making advice.]The information provided is for reference only. This document does not constitute direct advice for investment research decisions. Clients should make decisions prudently, not to replace their independent judgment with this. Any decisions made by clients are not related to SMM】