Macro Sentiment Recovery Drove Broad Gains in Base Metals; High Prices Suppressed Spot SHFE Tin, Maintaining a Fluctuating Trend [SMM Tin Midday Commentary]

Tin Midday Review, August 17, 2026

Today, the overall price center of the tin market in China and overseas held up well. The most-traded SHFE tin contract (sn2609) opened at 428,580 yuan/mt, hit an intraday high of 433,730 yuan/mt, then consolidated at highs, and closed the morning session at 431,700 yuan/mt, up 0.85% from the previous trading day’s settlement. On the LME, three-month tin was temporarily quoted at $56,265/mt, up 0.43%.

On the macro front:

(1) An announcement by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed that in Q2 2026, China’s current account surplus was 133.37 billion yuan, including a goods trade surplus of 190.65 billion yuan, a services trade deficit of 35.84 billion yuan, a primary income deficit of 25.72 billion yuan, and a secondary income surplus of 42.8 billion yuan; in H1 2026, China’s cumulative current account surplus totaled 261.74 billion yuan, with external demand and the current account overall maintaining steady resilience.

(2) Data released by the People’s Bank of China showed that in the first seven months of 2026, the cumulative growth in aggregate financing to the real economy totaled 22.25 trillion yuan, 1.74 trillion yuan less than the same period last year; as of end-July, the balance of broad money (M2) stood at 355.51 trillion yuan, up 7.7% YoY, indicating that the macro liquidity environment overall remained ample and stable.

In the spot market, trading was very sluggish. As futures prices rose again and moved back above 430,000 yuan/mt, downstream enterprises’ purchasing enthusiasm was clearly suppressed. End-use demand and actual consumption were in a relatively weak off-season phase; faced with absolute high prices, downstream and end-user buyers generally chose to stay on the sidelines, and spot deals shrank.

Overall, today was mainly driven by a recovery in macro sentiment, with the nonferrous metals complex broadly higher, and the improvement in sentiment lifting the price center in futures. From the perspective of industry fundamentals, the market faced dual constraints of “weak off-season consumption and price spikes suppressing purchases”; downstream buying and cargo taking were sluggish, making it difficult for the spot market to form sustained momentum to follow gains. Amid the tug-of-war between support from macro sentiment and weak spot absorption, the most-traded SHFE tin contract is expected to maintain a fluctuating trend in the short term.