The hot weather is coming to an end, and the demand for building materials has slightly improved

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review] SS futures consolidate higher, spot trading weak with offers pulling back According to SMM on September 24, SS futures consolidated on a strong note. Although the night session weakened at one point, prices gradually recovered and strengthened after the morning open. By the close, the most-traded SS contract settled at 13,815 yuan/mt. In the spot market, as the last trading day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, most downstream end-users had already completed pre-holiday stockpiling. Combined with the weak sentiment carried over from the night session, spot inquiries and trading were sluggish in the morning, and trader offers pulled back slightly as a result. SS futures most-traded contract. At 10:15 a.m., SS2611 was at 13,760 yuan/mt, down 95 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. Spot premiums for 304/2B in Wuxi were in the 460-810 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 Wuxi average price fell 25 yuan/mt, while the Foshan average price was flat; Wuxi cold-rolled 316L/2B coil prices were flat; for hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil, Wuxi offers were flat; cold-rolled 430/2B coil in both Wuxi and Foshan was flat. This week, stainless steel futures showed a pattern of rebounding from lows and consolidating in recovery, with improving macro sentiment driving the pace of futures. Earlier, under macro headwinds and sluggish demand, futures fell sharply and hit a year-to-date low of 13,290 yuan/mt. Following the US Fed's rate hike, the previously accumulated macro headwinds were largely priced in, market pessimism eased, and SS futures saw a sustained recovery and rise, overall breaking away from the prior one-sided decline...

[Indonesia] Currently, HRC prices remain stable at 523 USD/tonne FOB. There has been no change over the last three days, despite some steel mills having lowered their prices. Since then, there has been little or no movement in the market. At present, and possibly in the future, we need to monitor the impact of the long public holiday in China, as Chinese steel products are one of the biggest drivers of the steel market in South-East Asia. Freight costs also need to be monitored as oil prices are rising, although it is unlikely that prices will rise too sharply.

German steelmaker Hüttenwerke Krupp Mannesmann (HKM) has permanently shut down Blast Furnace A at its Duisburg plant, marking the start of a major transformation as German heavy industry moves toward more environmentally friendly production. HKM shut down the furnace on September 20, after it had produced cast iron continuously since 1973. The move comes against a backdrop of structural change, with HKM becoming wholly owned by the Salzgitter Group in July 2026. Blast Furnace B remains in operation for now, but the strategic plan calls for a gradual phase-out of traditional blast furnace production in favor of electrometallurgy, with Germany's largest electric arc furnace planned for the site. This follows HKM's earlier decommissioning of coke oven battery No. 2 at the same plant in September.