Last Friday evening, the price spread between the LME cash contract and the July date contract suddenly spiked to over $250/mt.

Overnight, LME copper opened at $9,692.5/mt, reaching a high of $9,738.0/mt and a low of $9,684/mt, before closing at $9,727.0/mt, up 0.65%. Trading volume reached 14,874 lots, with open interest at 286,436 lots.

According to the SMM survey, as of June 25, the operating rate of blast furnaces at 242 steel mills surveyed by SMM was 87.96%, up 0.26 percentage points WoW. The capacity utilization rate of blast furnaces was 89.45%, up 0.35 percentage points WoW. The daily average pig iron production of the sampled steel mills was 2.4179 million mt, up 9,500 mt WoW.

[SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Middle East Situation Eases, Market Risk Aversion Sentiment Alleviates, LME Zinc Rises] Overnight, LME zinc opened at $2,687.5/mt. Initially, LME zinc briefly dipped to a low of $2,685.5/mt. Subsequently, bears reduced their positions, and LME zinc fluctuated upward throughout the night session, reaching a high of $2,722/mt. However, the upward momentum weakened, and the center of LME zinc prices shifted downward. It eventually closed up at $2,710/mt, gaining $29.5/mt from the previous close, with a 1.10% increase. Trading volume decreased to 11,290 lots, and open interest fell by 623 lots to 212,000 lots.

[SMM Lead Morning Meeting Summary: Macro Factors Favorable + Fundamentals Improve, Lead Prices Break Through Key Level to Enter Uptrend] The macro sentiment has improved, creating an overall favorable atmosphere for non-ferrous metals to hold up well. Coupled with a shift in the supply-demand dynamics in the lead market due to short-term supply reductions, LME inventory continues destocking, and the sentiment among bulls/longs in the lead futures market is strong. This week, after SHFE lead broke through the key level of 17,000 yuan with increased trading volume, it entered an uptrend.

To better serve industrial clients and align more closely with the market, SMM has introduced “Copper scrap ingot, CIF China”...

At the 2025 SMM (2nd) Global Renewable Metal Industry Chain Summit  hosted by SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd., Amar Singh, Secretary General of the Material Recycling Association of India, shared insights on the topic of "Global Recycled Metals Market Showdown: An In-Depth Analysis of India's Strengths and Challenges."

According to the SMM survey, the impact from maintenance on construction steel declined slightly this week (6.21-6.27). Multiple steel mills resumed production on their construction steel rolling lines that were under maintenance last week or this week, resulting in an impact from maintenance on construction steel of 1.2689 million mt this week, down 8,800 mt WoW.