[SMM Daily Review of Stainless Steel: Low Prices Fail to Boost Transactions, Stainless Steel Inventory Accumulates] SMM reported on June 5 that today, the SS futures market was in the doldrums. The spot market continued its sluggish performance from the previous period. Affected by the strong wait-and-see sentiment among downstream end-users, market transactions were dominated by just-in-time procurement. To alleviate the pressure of shipments, steel mill agents and traders offered discounts for sales promotions, but with little success. For 200-series stainless steel, as steel mills lowered their list prices, traders followed suit by reducing their quotes. However, market activity remained unimproved, and transaction volumes remained dismal. This week, due to concentrated arrivals of goods recently, social inventory rose significantly, further exacerbating the sales pressure in the market. The stainless steel spot market is unlikely to change its weak pattern in the short term. In the futures market, the most-traded 2507 contract was in the doldrums. At 10:30 a.m., SS2507 was quoted at 12,690 yuan/mt, up 30 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In the Wuxi region, the spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B stainless steel ranged from 480 to 680 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the cold-rolled 201/2B coils in Wuxi and Foshan were both quoted at 7,850 yuan/mt; the average price of cold-rolled trimmed 304/2B coils was 13,100 yuan/mt in Wuxi and 13,100 yuan/mt in Foshan; the cold-rolled 316L/2B coils were quoted at 24,050 yuan/mt in Wuxi and 24,050 yuan/mt in Foshan; the hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils were quoted at 23,350 yuan/mt in both regions; the cold-rolled 430/2B coils were both quoted at 7,500 yuan/mt in Wuxi and Foshan. Currently, the stainless steel market has fully entered the traditional consumption off-season, with downstream demand remaining persistently sluggish. Despite...

[SMM Steel Mill Guidance Price] Guidance Prices for Different Series of Stainless Steel at Large Domestic Steel Mills on June 5

Today, DCE iron ore futures opened higher and moved downwards after a higher opening, fluctuating rangebound throughout the day. The most-traded contract I2509 eventually closed at 701, with a daily decline of 0.14%. Traders sold goods according to market conditions; steel mills adopted a wait-and-see attitude cautiously, with purchase willingness declining compared to yesterday.

[Brief Review of Domestic Iron Ore Market: Iron Ore Concentrates Prices in West Liaoning May Remain in the Doldrums] The domestic ore market in west Liaoning is sluggish. Affected by the price-driving-down efforts of local leading steel enterprises and the continuous weakness of the market, the ex-factory prices of Fe66% iron ore concentrates (wet basis, excluding tax) in the region are 690-700 yuan/mt. Currently, traders lack confidence in the future market and have low sentiment for purchasing. Considering the limited profit margins, they generally offer low prices.

According to the SMM survey, as of June 4, the operating rate of blast furnaces at 242 steel mills surveyed by SMM was 88.26%, down 0.09 percentage point WoW. The capacity utilisation rate of blast furnaces was 89.56%, down 0.18 percentage point WoW. The daily average pig iron production of the sampled steel mills was 2.4163 million mt, down 5,000 mt WoW.