US Tariff Policy Pressure on Metal Prices, Spot Market Transactions Nearly Stalled [SMM Tin Morning Brief]

DOWA Holdings plans to produce 113,543 tonnes of zinc in H2 FY2026, up 27.0% from its H1 plan of 89,373 tonnes and 26.8% from the 89,525 tonnes produced in H2 FY2025. Its Akita Zinc operation uses the hematite process to recover indium and other valuable metals at high yields and integrates zinc smelting with rare-metal production and recycling. Higher planned zinc output may increase feed throughput for by-product indium recovery. However, DOWA disclosed no indium production target, and any supply increase will depend on feed grades, recovery rates and operating schedules rather than zinc volumes alone.

Coherent launched PhotonLink, an integrated optics platform for AI infrastructure incorporating Indium Phosphide (InP) lasers, silicon photonics, detectors and optical modules. The company disclosed more than 10 CPO engagements, over 10 NPO engagements and more than five chip-to-chip connectivity projects, with anchor customers and long-term agreements secured for both CPO and NPO. Revenue is expected to begin ramping in Q4 2026. Coherent has shipped over 300 million InP lasers and is expanding its 6-inch InP manufacturing capacity to support the ramp. The customer pipeline provides a clearer commercial demand signal for InP devices and upstream materials, although additional capacity and indium consumption were not disclosed.

According to Counterpoint Research's China Smartphone Weekly Sales Tracker, China's weekly smartphone sales have maintained a double-digit YoY decline since July. Affected by rising storage costs, consumer demand remains weak, but with the arrival of the September new product launch cycle, the market is expected to see a MoM recovery. Sales of the iPhone 18 Pro series in its first three days of availability (accounting for only three days of Week 38) were up 12% YoY compared with the first-week sales of the iPhone 17 Pro series. Driven by this strong start, Apple topped the weekly sales chart in Week 38, capturing a 33% share of China's smartphone market.