[National Railway's Coal Shipments Reach 870 Million mt, January-May]

At 4:15 PM on June 8, 2026, a ladle explosion at the SMS-1 steelmaking shop of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) — operated by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) — unleashed molten metal at over 1,500°C onto the working platform below Caster-2. According to a preliminary report by India's Chief Inspector of Factories, the cause was a sudden release of gas entrapped within the liquid steel, which ruptured the ladle seal before the sliding gate was opened, triggering a catastrophic spill.

The American Iron and Steel Institute recently reported that the US imported a total of 1.874 million short tons of steel in April 2026, including 1.378 million short tons of finished steel, up 5.9% and 5.5% respectively from March. From January to April 2026, total US steel imports were 6.972 million short tons, down 29.5% MoM, while finished steel imports stood at 5.118 million short tons, down 30.5% MoM. The finished steel import market share in April is estimated to be 16%, and for the first four months of 2026, 15%.

May's financial data were released, and the topic of "deposit migration" once again sparked market attention. Data recently released by the central bank shows that after a decline of 1.94 trillion yuan in April, household deposits continued to shrink by 110 billion yuan in May, with a total reduction of 2.05 trillion yuan over the two months. This marks a rare occurrence in nearly a decade of household deposits posting negative growth for two consecutive months. Over the same period, deposits at non-bank financial institutions increased by a combined 3.61 trillion yuan, with the "seesaw" effect persisting. Another phenomenon that has drawn significant attention is the continued deleveraging in the household sector: in May, household loans decreased by 141.2 billion yuan, with a YoY decline that widened by 195.2 billion yuan (compared to an increase of 54 billion yuan in the same period last year). Industry experts have repeatedly noted that the flow of household deposits to non-bank institutions merely changes the structure of bank deposits, and this trend precisely reflects the deepening of China's financial market. A more noteworthy positive signal is that as the growth rate of household deposits continues to pull back, the "scissors gap" between it and the growth of M2 (broad money) continues to narrow and has remained negative for five consecutive months, indicating a trend of marginal fund mobilization. Some institutional sources believe that the capital cycle from households to enterprises and non-bank institutions is restarting, building momentum for the improvement of the domestic economic cycle.