Silicon Traders Face a Dilemma after Producers Raise Prices, and Power Price in Dehong Rises, SMM Reports

[ADC12 Price Daily Review: Domestic Prices Firm While Overseas Prices Stable, Aluminum Alloy Import Window Nears Opening] The industry remains in a pattern primarily driven by costs, supplemented by mild demand recovery. Enterprises' willingness to hold prices firm has increased somewhat, but the room for further price rises still depends on the actual realization of subsequent peak-season demand.

KGHM Polska Miedź (KGHM) reported H1FY2026 molybdenum output at Sierra Gorda of 1.8 million lb (about 816 tonnes) on its 55% attributable basis, equivalent to roughly 1,484 tonnes on a 100% mine basis, up 6% YoY. Q2 output was 0.9 million lb (about 408 tonnes), equivalent to around 742 tonnes on a 100% basis, down 25% YoY. Higher molybdenum recovery offset lower ore grades and reduced throughput. KGHM set Sierra Gorda’s FY2026 molybdenum production budget at 2.1 million lb (about 953 tonnes) on the same 55% basis, equivalent to about 1,732 tonnes at 100%. With 1.8 million lb already produced in H1FY2026, the mine had achieved about 86% of its full-year molybdenum budget.

Zimbabwe's Midlands Province attracted US$108 million in investment during the second quarter of 2026, spanning cement, fertiliser and energy projects, according to Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Owen Ncube, speaking at a business conference in Gweru. Ncube said the inflows, drawn from both domestic and foreign investors, reflect the province turning mineral wealth into factories, jobs and power rather than continuing to export raw materials, framing the investment within Zimbabwe's Vision 2030 industrialization agenda. The energy component of the package is the most directly relevant to the chrome sector: new captive solar and thermal power plants are being built specifically to supply high-energy industrial consumers, with ferrochrome processing plants singled out as a priority beneficiary. Midlands hosts several of Zimbabwe's major ferrochrome producers, and unreliable, costly grid power has been a persistent constraint on smelter operations nationally. Ncube said the new capacity is intended to give manufacturers fewer outages, lower costs and the ability to plan production around a consistent energy supply, addressing what he described as one of industrialization's longstanding bottlenecks. The energy and ferrochrome angle sat alongside a broader beneficiation narrative in the announcement, with Ncube also citing Dinson Iron and Steel's investment in Manhize and lithium processing commitments from Zheli Lithium and Sandawana Mines in Chirumanzu, Zvishavane and Mberengwa as evidence of the province moving up the value chain. Investors quoted at the conference, including businessman Dr. Tinashe Manzungu, pointed to policy consistency and political stability, including the Presidential assent to Constitutional Amendment Act Number 3 of 2026, as key factors underpinning the inflows, with Manzungu suggesting the current environment could support a further US$500 million in investment. The ministerial announcement did not break out how much of the US$108 million was allocated specifically to ferrochrome-related power capacity versus the province's other cement and fertilizer projects, leaving the scale of the direct benefit to smelters still to be clarified as individual projects come online.