During this period, the tender pricing for June by downstream benchmark aluminum enterprises was finalized. The market price of aluminum fluoride continued to weaken, with the tender price of benchmark enterprises in June declining by 150-200 yuan/mt to 9,630-9,700 yuan/mt. Currently, the aluminum fluoride market continues to experience weak supply and demand. After entering June, prices of both raw materials and finished products have declined, and corporate profitability has not improved. Most enterprises are experiencing losses, with low operating rates that are unlikely to increase in the short term. Coupled with the absence of positive factors on the demand side, aluminum fluoride prices are expected to remain stable in the short term. Additionally, with the anticipated decline in raw material prices in June, prices are expected to remain weak next month.

[SMM Analysis:The Back structure is difficult to sustain ] Since 2024, the price of sulfuric acid in Chinese copper smelters has continued to rise, and the trend of sulfuric acid prices has formed a sharp contrast with the trend of spot processing fees for copper concentrates.

SMM Analysis: According to SMM, the operating rate of copper foil enterprises in May 2025 was 72.16%, up 0.65 percentage points MoM and down 0.11 percentage points YoY...

A certain aluminum enterprise in Shandong has adjusted the benchmark tender price for prebaked anodes in June 2025, which remained flat MoM. Meanwhile, a major domestic prebaked anode sales company simultaneously lowered its sales pricing, with a MoM decrease of 142 yuan/mt. Despite varying performances in the raw material market, overall costs have declined. According to SMM data, as of June 6, the comprehensive cost of prebaked anodes in China fell to 4,670 yuan/mt, a significant decrease of 6.32% from May 9. The reduction in cost-side pressure has supported the industry's profitability. Based on a one-month production cycle, the profitability of the prebaked anode industry has significantly improved, with theoretical profitability increasing by approximately 350 yuan/mt MoM. Most prebaked anode enterprises are now in a state of marginal profitability. Entering June, domestic refinery maintenance and production resumptions coexist, with overall supply-side fluctuations remaining relatively small. However, with the continuous arrival of overseas petroleum coke and weak domestic demand, port inventories of petroleum coke have continued to rebound, resulting in a relatively abundant supply in the petroleum coke market. On the demand side, the operating rate of the prebaked anode industry is high, but enterprises' procurement enthusiasm is low, preferring a strategy of restocking at low prices. Meanwhile, orders in the anode material and graphite electrode markets are weak, and the previous stockpiling by glass and cement plants has been largely completed, leading to weakened demand. Therefore, the demand side remains generally sluggish. SMM expects petroleum coke prices to continue their downward trend in June, thereby exerting a sustained impact on the cost side of prebaked anodes. Considering the aforementioned factors, SMM expects prebaked anode prices to remain in the doldrums next month.

This week, Indonesian nickel ore prices saw an increase. NPI prices still faces pressure

Overall, according to data from the General Administration of Customs, the total export volume of HRC from China to Brazil in the first four months of 2025 was only 211,000 mt, accounting for 2.70% of China's total HRC exports, with limited overall impact. Data from 2025 shows that the top five countries for China's HRC exports are Vietnam, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the UAE. Among them, Vietnam and South Korea have initiated anti-dumping investigations into China's HRC. Vietnam has already imposed provisional anti-dumping measures, and there have even been recent rumors that wide coils, which were previously excluded from the anti-dumping scope, may be added to the anti-dumping list again. On March 4 this year, South Korea officially announced the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation into China's HRC coils. Currently, China's HRC, the largest exported steel product, is facing an increasing number of anti-dumping investigations. Perhaps for export traders, exploring ways to increase the export volume of products that are not yet subject to anti-dumping measures could be a wise strategy.

Today, DCE iron ore futures market continued to exhibit a fluctuating trend, holding up well. The most-traded contract I2509 eventually closed at 707.5, with a daily increase of 0.86%. Traders showed moderate enthusiasm for selling, while steel mills adopted a cautious wait-and-see attitude, with purchase willingness weakening slightly as the weekend approached.

 According to data from SMM, the operating rates of copper billet producers reached 50.61% in May 2025, down 4.36% MoM, indicating a weakening trend in the industry's operations. By scale, the operating rate of large enterprises was 53.42%, that of medium-sized enterprises was 49.54%, and that of small enterprises was 35.87%.