The Most-Traded SHFE Tin Contract Continued to Fluctuate Downward After the Night Session Opening, Spot Market Transactions Expected to Recover [SMM Tin Morning Brief]

SMM Tin Morning Brief, April 16, 2026:

Futures: The most-traded SHFE tin contract fluctuated downward continuously after the opening of the night session, closing at 387,000 yuan/mt.

Macro: (1) MIIT announced that, pursuant to the mandatory national standard development and revision plan issued by the National Standardization Administration, MIIT has completed the drafting of two mandatory national standards (approval drafts), including the "Safety Requirements for Intelligent Connected Vehicle Combined Driving Assistance Systems." The approval drafts and their explanatory notes are now open for public review and comments. (MIIT) (2) Cao Yanfei, Senior Vice President of Infineon Technologies and Head of the Automotive Business in Greater China, introduced at the 2026 Smart EV Development Senior Forum that Infineon's market share in the MCU sector rose to 36% last year. The company is advancing the development of RISC-V architecture automotive-grade MCUs. In 2027, through cooperation with local wafer fabs and OSAT companies, Infineon plans to achieve localized front-end and back-end production of AURIX™ TC3x series products based on 40nm technology, as well as localized front-end and back-end production of automotive radar sensors based on 28nm technology. In the power device sector, the localized mass production of 40V MOSFETs has been advanced to 2026, and the localized mass production timeline for 40V MOSFET SSO8 has been moved up from the originally planned 2027 to 2026. Currently, Infineon has jointly established innovation application centers with more than 10 leading OEMs and Tier-1 clients to accelerate the implementation of customized system-level solutions.

Fundamentals: (1) Supply side: Most smelters focused on maintaining stable production in April. (2) Demand side: Downstream purchasing remained cautious, with procurement conducted based on order conditions.

Spot market: As the futures price center shifted upward again, trading activity in the spot market became increasingly sluggish. When tin prices previously approached 370,000 yuan/mt, downstream purchase willingness had already declined substantially. Yesterday, SHFE tin broke strongly above the 390,000 yuan/mt level, and market inquiries and transaction activity contracted further. Only some enterprises, driven by a fear-of-rising-prices mentality, chose to make small-volume just-in-time procurement on dips during the trading session, primarily to maintain production.

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