This week, ferrous metals mostly showed a pattern of rising first and then falling, with coking coal and coke exhibiting relatively weak performance. Over the weekend, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that it would conduct one-month environmental protection checks in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region this week. Finished products and raw materials performed differently, with iron ore showing strong support. In the latter part of the week, market rumors suggested that China is considering new real estate support policies, including options such as mortgage interest subsidies, leading to some fluctuations in ferrous metals during trading sessions. Fundamentally, the inventory of the five major steel products continued to decline but failed to provide strong support. Coupled with weakening raw material support, finished product prices gave back the gains made on Monday. In the spot market, amid the off-season, end-users continued to purchase as needed at low prices, with a small amount of speculative demand released at the beginning of the week.

[SMM Chrome Weekly Review: Steel Mill Tender Prices Beat Expectations, Market Sentiment Recovers] News on November 21, 2025: The ex-factory price for high-carbon ferrochrome in Inner Mongolia today was 7,900-8,100 yuan/mt (50% metal content), flat MoM from the previous trading day...

[SMM Titanium Weekly Review: Diverging Trends in Upstream and Downstream, Cost and Demand in Continuous Tug-of-War] This week, the titanium industry chain as a whole showed a diverging pattern of "upstream under pressure, downstream stabilizing." Upstream, titanium concentrate prices continued to decline, dragged down by weak demand from titanium dioxide and high sulphuric acid costs, with strong bearish sentiment in the market. The titanium slag market was consolidating at the bottom, facing difficulty in price changes amid weak supply and demand. Midstream, titanium dioxide prices, though in the doldrums, are expected to gradually stabilize due to losses and expectations of supply contraction. Downstream, sponge titanium quotations remained firm, supported by solid high-end demand and cost; titanium materials, however, continued to face downward pressure due to sluggish end-use demand and accumulating social inventory. Overall, the contradiction between high costs and insufficient demand runs through the industry chain, and the short-term market is likely to remain volatile with adjustments.

Progress on This Week's Recycling Incidents Was as Follows:

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review: SS Futures Hit New Lows, Cost Support Weakens, Spot Market Remains Weak] SMM November 21 - SS futures showed a trend of rising first and then falling. Today, although the release of US non-farm payrolls data dashed market expectations for a US Fed interest rate cut in December, leading to a broad pullback in commodity prices, SS futures bucked the trend and rose in the morning. However, they turned lower again in the afternoon amid overall market weakness, with the intraday low falling below 12,300 yuan/mt. On the spot market side, SS futures continued to weaken and test bottom throughout the week, further dampening market purchase sentiment. Although stainless steel mill production declined and arrivals decreased, leading to some destocking in social inventory, the overall market sluggishness remained unchanged. Additionally, during the week, a major stainless steel mill announced procurement prices for high-grade NPI and high-carbon ferrochrome. The high-grade NPI price was set at 880 yuan/mtu, and the December ferrochrome procurement price was set at 8,395 yuan/mt (50% metal content), weakening cost support for stainless steel and keeping spot prices under pressure. This week, social inventory saw some destocking, down 1.28% WoW to 940,000 mt. The most-traded SS futures contract was in the doldrums. At 10:30 am, the SS2601 contract was quoted at 12,385 yuan/mt, up 55 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In Wuxi, the spot premium/discount for 304/2B was in the range of 335-585 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the average price of Wuxi cold-rolled 201/2B coil was 8,025 yuan/mt; the average price of Wuxi cold-rolled trimmed 304/2B coil was 12,675 yuan/mt, while the Foshan average...

November 21 news: North China ports: South African high-iron ore at 29.6–30.1 yuan/mtu, flat WoW; South African semi‑carbonate ore at 34.1–34.8 yuan/mtu, up 0.29% WoW; Gabon ore at 39.7–40.5 yuan/mtu, flat WoW; Australian lumps at 39.9–40.6 yuan/mtu, flat from last Tuesday; South African medium-iron ore at 35.4–35.9 yuan/mtu, flat WoW. South China ports: South African high-iron ore at 30.8–31.3 yuan/mtu, flat WoW; South African semi‑carbonate ore at 36.9–37.8 yuan/mtu, up 0.27% WoW; Gabon ore at 40.5–41.2 yuan/mtu, flat WoW; Australian lumps at 40.2–40.9 yuan/mtu, flat WoW; South African medium-iron ore at 37.3–37.8 yuan/mtu, flat WoW. Overall, the current manganese ore market shows a supply-demand pattern characterized by "tight supply and diverging demand." In the short term, supply-side pressure is relatively limited, and the market is expected to hold up well overall.