Festive Atmosphere of Chinese New Year Intensifies, Silicon Metal Inventory Inflows and Outflows from Warehouses Remain Sluggish [SMM Silicon Inventory]

This week, ferrous metals rebounded from the bottom. At the start of the week, coking coal and coke led the futures higher, mainly driven by rising crude oil prices in the overseas market, which pushed the energy and chemicals sector stronger accordingly; mid-week, both the U.S. and Iran signaled a more relaxed stance toward war, easing geopolitical tensions, while coal prices fell in tandem, weakening the cost-side logic, and ferrous metals fluctuated at highs; in the latter half of the week, worsening short-term liquidity issues in BHP's iron ore port inventory triggered stronger iron ore prices in the overseas market, while the Middle East situation remained volatile, reinforcing cost support and pushing ferrous metals higher again. In the spot market, supported by futures, end-user and arbitrage purchase sentiment both improved WoW this week......

[SMM Daily HRC Trading Volume] On March 13, the total daily HRC trading volume of sample enterprises in SMM's four cities (Shanghai, Lecong, Tianjin, Ningbo) was 15,910 mt, down 40 mt day on day (-0.3%), down 11.27% YoY on a calendar basis, and up 12.20% YoY on a lunar calendar basis.

The continuous iron ore contract opened with a gap up today, showing strength in the early morning but weakening in the afternoon. The main contract, I2605, eventually closed at 811.5 CNY/ton, up 2.33% from the previous trading session.