One Stainless Steel Plant In East China to Start Billet Production in Late June

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SHFE Nickel Gains Drive SS to Stop Falling, Stainless Steel Spot Prices Stabilize at Lows According to SMM on September 10, SS futures consolidated, and driven by gains in SHFE nickel, SS successfully stopped falling. As of the close, the most-traded SS contract settled at 13,765 yuan/mt. In the spot market, SS futures consolidated at lows. Against the backdrop of an overall weak market, end-use demand showed little sign of recovery, and traders continued to hold offers steady at low levels. Current prices have approached the lows seen at the start of the year. Coupled with stainless steel mills already incurring losses, production schedules have declined somewhat. Although market expectations are unlikely to reverse the overall weakness, the likelihood of further sharp declines in the short term is also low. SS futures most-traded contract. At 10:15 a.m., SS2610 was at 13,860 yuan/mt, up 145 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for 304/2B in Wuxi were in the 460-710 yuan/mt range. In the spot market, the average price of Wuxi cold-rolled 201/2B coil was flat; for cold-rolled mill-edge 304/2B coil, the average price in Wuxi was flat, and the average price in Foshan was flat; the price of cold-rolled 316L/2B coil in Wuxi was flat; for hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil, offers in Wuxi were flat; cold-rolled 430/2B coil in both Wuxi and Foshan was flat. This week, stainless steel futures extended the overall weak trend and broke down further. The traditional "September peak season" consumption period has officially begun, but expectations for demand recovery fell through, and market sentiment turned pessimistic and bearish. SS futures came under pressure and weakened, with the weekly low briefly dipping below 13,700 yuan/mt, and the market valuation center continued...

Southern Copper Corporation reported Q2FY2026 molybdenum production of 7,046 tonnes, down 11.0% YoY, with H1FY2026 output falling 6.7% to 14,562 tonnes. Production declined at all four molybdenum-producing mines, with Toquepala down 21.9%, Cuajone down 1.4%, Buenavista down 12.4% and La Caridad down 3.5%. The company attributed the declines primarily to lower ore grades.

Chile’s state-owned Codelco reported H1FY2026 molybdenum production of 6,500 tonnes, down 14.5% from 7,600 tonnes in the same period of 2025. Molybdenum sales totaled 7,600 tonnes, down 5% from 8,000 tonnes a year earlier. The decline in production indicates a notable YoY contraction in Codelco’s by-product molybdenum supply.