The Singapore International Ferrous Week (SIFW) 2026 officially kicked off on June 16, 2026. Logan Lu, CEO of Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), attended the opening ceremony as a distinguished guest.
Co-hosted by SGX and Green Esteel with support from Enterprise Singapore, the event runs from June 15 to June 19. Its core summit, Singapore Iron & Steel Conference, attracted over 350+ participants including miners and steel mills from Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, serving as Southeast Asia’s flagship ferrous industry exchange platform.
SGX CEO Loh Boon Chye delivered a keynote, highlighting trends in iron ore pricing mechanisms and financialization. He noted that physical trade evolution calls for diversified, differentiated pricing benchmarks to streamline risk management. Iron ore has grown into a mainstream investable commodity, included in major global indices; SGX has partnered with SummerHaven to launch tradable iron ore products. Leveraging strengths in physical trade, shipping, financing and risk hedging, Singapore acts as a neutral global commodity hub, the core rationale behind SIFW.
Singapore’s Minister of Trade and Industry Alvin Tan likened geopolitical and economic headwinds to kryptonite weighing on the sector, yet underscored steel’s strong resilience. He outlined four growth pillars: tapping robust Asian steel demand led by Southeast Asia and India; utilizing Singapore’s full industrial and financial ecosystem for supply chain and price risk management; advancing AI and digitalization to boost operational efficiency; and accelerating low-carbon steel and maritime decarbonization amid tightening global carbon regulations.
The Singapore New Energy Metals & Materials Forum, co-organized by Green Esteel and SMM, was launched alongside this event with the goal to advance low-carbon metal collaboration. Satvinder Singh, Deputy Secretary General of the ASEAN Economic Community, delivered the opening remarks for the forum, focusing on the industry resilience of the global ferrous metals sector amid multiple challenges and echoing the four development strategy recommendations mentioned above: deepening engagement in Asia, basing in Singapore, technology enablement, and green transformation. He also highlighted Singapore’s positioning as a commodities trading hub, as well as local supporting measures for industrial digitalization and the low-carbon transition.
On the same day, Logan Lu arranged two important opening events. At 10:30 a.m., he also attended the opening of the inaugural Singapore New Energy Metals & Materials Forum, co-hosted by Green Esteel and SMM, and engaged in in-depth exchanges with enterprises across the industry chain in and outside China on core topics such as ferrous metals, the global supply chain layout for new energy metals, and the industry’s green and low-carbon transformation.
The Singapore New Energy Metals & Materials Forum represents a strategic extension into the fast-growing track of new energy metals and new materials. The forum adopts an integrated “Forum + Exhibition” model, bringing together global industry leaders, policy researchers, investment institutions, traders, and technology R&D and manufacturing producers to jointly assess the industry’s future development direction. As the global energy transition continues to accelerate, new energy metals and high-end new materials are a critical foundation for the low-carbon economy and the development of renewable energy. Coupled with multiple variables such as changes in the geopolitical environment, the restructuring of critical minerals supply chains, and adjustments to the global trade system, the industry is facing new opportunities and challenges. Centered on six major themes—global macro economy, supply and demand for critical metals, industry chain integration, supply chain resilience, industry investment, and breakthroughs in new materials technologies—the forum promotes global resource matching and strategic cooperation across the new energy metals industry chain through keynote speeches, panel discussions, business matchmaking, and industry exhibitions, thereby driving the industry’s sustainable development.
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