Post-holiday resumption pace remains slow, the most-traded SHFE tin contract fluctuates at highs [SMM Tin Futures Brief Review]

On February 24, 2026, the most-traded SHFE tin contract fluctuated at highs intraday and closed at 384,220 yuan/mt, with the gain narrowing to 0.9%. On the LME, three-month tin was quoted at $48,920/mt, up 3.27%, continuing its consolidation trend.

On the macro front, recent breakthroughs in semiconductor technology have drawn market attention, injecting new momentum into the long-term demand narrative for tin as a "computing metal." A research team from Peking University's School of Electronics made a breakthrough in ferroelectric transistors, fabricating the smallest and lowest-power ferroelectric transistor to date, with related results published in Science Advances. Through a 1-nanometer gate structure design, the device creates a high-intensity electric field inside the ferroelectric layer, enabling polarization switching with only 0.6V, reducing energy consumption by an order of magnitude compared to the best international level. Ferroelectric transistors, featuring integrated memory and computing, are regarded as one of the core device directions to break through the "memory wall" bottleneck of AI chips and improve computing power efficiency. This breakthrough provides a key technological foundation for high-efficiency data centers and next-generation AI chips.

In addition, as 2025 corporate financial reports are gradually released, concerns about an "AI bubble" triggered by some top-tier enterprises' growth falling short of expectations have eased, and market sentiment has gradually stabilized. Continued breakthroughs in the technology sector may support long-term consumption expectations for tin in areas such as semiconductor solder and advanced packaging.

On the spot side, market trading remains sluggish. Most downstream solder enterprises plan to resume work between the 26th and 28th, with some delaying their return until after the Lantern Festival on March 3. Due to cautious expectations for post-holiday orders amid high tin prices before the holiday, overall inventory management demand release was relatively limited during the pre-holiday price correction window. The market is still in the early stages of post-holiday recovery, with sluggish spot market performance.

In the short term, downstream operations have not fully resumed, demand side remains in the early recovery phase, and tin prices are mainly consolidating at highs as funds return after the holiday.