[SMM Steel Market Morning News] The second batch of special bonds for stabilizing growth and expanding investment has been issued, with a total scale of 39.5 billion yuan

★Macro★

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[The second batch of special bonds for stabilizing growth and expanding investment, with a total scale of 39.5 billion yuan, has been issued]

On the 9th, China Reform Holdings Corporation Ltd. and China Chengtong Holdings Group Ltd., two state-owned capital operating companies, successfully issued 39.5 billion yuan of special bonds for stabilizing growth and expanding investment in the interbank market, further supporting central state-owned enterprises in strengthening their investments in the "implementation of major national strategies and the development of security capabilities in key areas" and the "program of large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins", and continuing to make efforts in areas such as major equipment upgrades and technological transformations, major scientific and technological innovations, and major strategic emerging industries. This is the second batch of special bonds successfully issued by the two central state-owned enterprises since they were approved to issue special bonds with a total scale of 500 billion yuan last year. This batch of special bonds was issued by China Reform Holdings Corporation Ltd. for 23 billion yuan and China Chengtong Holdings Group Ltd. for 16.5 billion yuan, both with a maturity of 10 years and a final coupon rate of 2.09%.

02

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[Foreign Ministry: Continuously optimizing the business environment to provide more policy dividends for foreign enterprises and achieve win-win results for multiple parties]

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian hosted a regular press conference. A reporter asked, "We have noticed that many foreign-funded enterprises have continued to invest in China recently. The Danish Chamber of Commerce in China, the German Chamber of Commerce in China, and others have stated that European enterprises are highly motivated to continue investing in China, and that new technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital twins, and autonomous driving are all blue oceans for cooperation. The latest survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China shows that the vast majority of US enterprises have no plans to withdraw from the Chinese market. Many foreign-funded enterprises have also begun to increase localized R&D and innovation. What comments does the spokesperson have on this?"

Lin Jian stated that the increasing investment by foreign-funded enterprises in China reflects the outside world's recognition of the stability of China's high-quality development and the certainty of its high-level opening-up, and also highlights the powerful momentum of China's new quality productive forces and its scientific and technological innovation ecosystem. Lin Jian introduced that China is accelerating the promotion of institutional opening-up, launching the "2025 Action Plan for Stabilizing Foreign Investment", revising and expanding the "Catalog of Industries Encouraged for Foreign Investment", and including cutting-edge fields such as high-end manufacturing and the digital economy within the scope of policy dividends. In the first five months of this year, the number of foreign enterprises with actual import and export performance exceeded 73,000, the highest for the same period in five years. At the same time, China's continuous innovation breakthroughs, the huge market demand for new industries and new business formats, as well as its unique advantages such as a complete industrial and supply chain system, abundant human resources, and a mature innovation ecosystem, are driving foreign enterprises to accelerate their investment in new quality productive forces and deeply embed themselves in China's innovation chain. "Research and development in China, output to the world" has become a trend, forming a virtuous cycle of the market, enterprises, and resource elements. "From a manufacturing powerhouse to an innovation engine, China's development has always been an opportunity for the world. We will continuously optimize the business environment, provide more policy dividends for foreign enterprises, and welcome more foreign enterprises to base themselves in China and look globally, achieving mutual pursuit and win-win results in the wave of new quality productive forces development."Lin Jian said.

03

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[National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC): Promote eligible major cities to gradually achieve the coverage of inclusive childcare services, such as embedded childcare, in over 80% of communities]

Xiao Weiming, Deputy Secretary General of the NDRC, stated at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on June 10 that the "Opinions on Further Ensuring and Improving People's Livelihoods and Addressing Urgent Needs and Concerns of the Masses" recently issued by the General Offices of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council can be summarized with three words: "precise," "practical," and "innovative." "Precise" means that the direction of livelihood construction and the focus of policies have been accurately identified, with targeted policy measures proposed to ensure that the general public can truly feel the benefits. "Practical" means that clear goals and pragmatic measures have been proposed to address the bottlenecks, obstacles, and pain points in people's livelihoods that have drawn strong public concern. For example, in terms of "caring for the elderly and the young," the "Opinions" clearly propose the "8080" goal, which means that the proportion of nursing beds in newly built elderly care institutions should, in principle, be no less than 80%. Within about 10 years, eligible major cities will be promoted to gradually achieve the coverage of inclusive childcare services, such as embedded childcare, in over 80% of communities, guiding the scientific and rational allocation of public resources to better meet the needs of the masses.

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[Ministry of Finance: Accelerate the establishment and implementation of a childcare subsidy system, with related work being expedited]

Ge Zhihao, head of the Social Security Department of the Ministry of Finance, stated at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on June 10 that in terms of services for "caring for the elderly and the young," the Ministry of Finance actively cooperates with relevant departments to improve the elderly care and childcare service system, promote home-based elderly care services supported by communities, strengthen care services for the disabled elderly, promote the high-quality development of inclusive childcare services, and accelerate the establishment and implementation of a childcare subsidy system. Related work is being expedited to ensure that it better meets the service needs of the people in terms of "caring for the elderly and the young."

★Industry and Downstream★

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[SMM Weekly Maintenance Statistics]

According to SMM statistics, for the week (from June 7 to June 13), the impact of blast furnace maintenance on pig iron production was 1.1028 million mt, a decrease of 600 mt from the impact of maintenance in the previous week. For the following week (from June 14 to June 20), the impact of blast furnace maintenance on pig iron production is expected to be 1.1053 million mt, an increase of 2,500 mt from this week.

02

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[SMM Shenyang HRC Inventory]

This week, the HRC inventory in Shenyang was 170,000 mt, an increase of 20,000 mt or 13.33% WoW. It decreased by 23,500 mt or 12.14% YoY.

03

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[China Iron and Steel Association: Safeguard the Overall Interests of the Industry Chain and Jointly Resist Cut-throat Competition]

On the 9th, the China Iron and Steel Association released an article titled "Safeguard the Overall Interests of the Industry Chain and Jointly Resist Cut-throat Competition."The article points out that comprehensively addressing "cut-throat competition" is a systematic project that affects the whole. No single industry can escape the predicament of "cut-throat competition" on its own. The steel and automotive industries must base themselves on their own sectors, unify their understanding, and form a consensus. Whether it is steel enterprises or automakers, they must recognize that the interests of the industry take precedence over those of individual enterprises, and that the interests of enterprises stem from the interests of the industry. They must accelerate the transition from a "quantity-oriented" to a "price-oriented" approach and strengthen collaborative governance across the upstream and downstream of the industry chain.

There are no winners in a "price war," and there is certainly no future. We propose that the steel and automotive industries should build consensus, strengthen their internal capabilities, enhance self-discipline, and jointly break free from "cut-throat competition." They should promote the healthy and sustainable development of the industry chain through technological innovation and safeguard a fair and orderly market order with practical actions. Only in this way can the automotive and steel industry chains achieve "high-quality supply assurance and mutually beneficial outcomes with benefits," thereby truly realizing high-quality development, embodying the spirit of "Made in China," and contributing China's strength and wisdom to the healthy development of the global economy!

04

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[Last year, Shanghai's NEV ownership exceeded 1.512 million units, with pure EVs accounting for 71%]

The Shanghai Urban-Rural Construction and Transportation Development Research Institute recently released the "2024 Annual Report on Shanghai's Green Transportation Development." According to the report, Shanghai's NEV ownership reached 1.512 million units in 2024. Pure EVs continued to be the mainstream of NEVs, accounting for approximately 89% of annual promotions. Among the NEV ownership, pure EVs accounted for a cumulative 71%.

05

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[Qingdao issues new policies on housing provident fund withdrawals, expanding the scope of down payment withdrawals to include second-hand homes]

The Qingdao Housing Provident Fund Management Center issued new policies on down payment withdrawals on the 10th, aiming to optimize and improve the housing provident fund withdrawal policy by expanding the scope, adding scenarios, and simplifying procedures to better meet the diverse capital usage needs of contributors. This policy optimization focuses on broadening the scenarios for using the housing provident fund. On the one hand, it expands the scope of down payment withdrawals to include second-hand homes. In Qingdao, in addition to purchasing newly built commercial housing or affordable housing, contributors and their spouses who purchase second-hand homes can also withdraw the housing provident fund to pay for down payments. Among them, if the purchased home is affordable housing or the family's first or second self-occupied home, the parents and children of the homebuyer can also withdraw the housing provident fund together to pay for the down payment, thereby reducing the pressure of fundraising. On the other hand, it adds a scenario for withdrawing funds for elevator upgrades. For residential buildings that require renovation, the homeowner and their spouse, both parents, children, and their spouses can withdraw the housing provident fund within the scope of their actual personal contributions to install or upgrade elevators, thereby improving the living environment.

06

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[Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Four Other Cities Advance Mutual Recognition and Interoperability of Housing Provident Fund Loans, Achieving "Same-City" Housing Provident Fund Services]

The housing provident fund management centers of six cities—Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, Jiangmen, Chaozhou, and Jieyang—have officially signed the "Cooperation Agreement on Promoting the Collaborative Development of Housing Provident Funds." They will collaborate in areas such as policy coordination, service coordination, and data sharing to strongly support the housing consumption needs of mobile employment populations and families purchasing homes in different cities within the region, thereby promoting the free flow and optimal allocation of talent and other factors within the region. It is reported that the cities involved in this agreement will continue to accelerate the realization of a "same-city" experience for housing provident fund services within the region from four aspects: First, promoting non-discriminatory housing provident fund services across different regions, accelerating system interconnection and interoperability, achieving mutual recognition of deposit and loan information, and reducing the required documents for transactions; Second, promoting mutual recognition and interoperability of housing provident fund loans across different regions, ensuring that loan amounts and housing unit counts for employees who have made deposits in cooperating cities and purchase homes locally are consistent with those of local depositors; Third, promoting joint inquiries into housing provident fund information across different regions and facilitating the handling of housing provident fund business across regions; Fourth, jointly establishing a risk prevention mechanism for housing provident funds to collectively prevent illegal and irregular activities such as fraudulent withdrawals and loans of housing provident funds, thereby enhancing overall management efficiency and fund security levels.

★Other Hot Topics★

⭕[Newly Issued Land Reserve Special Bonds Exceed 100 Billion Yuan This Year, Accelerating the Clearance of Real Estate Risks]

As of June 10, 2025, the newly issued scale of land reserve special bonds this year has reached 108.348 billion yuan, involving 442 projects and 24 special bonds. Regarding the proportion of fund usage for land reserve special bonds, "land reserve" currently accounts for 7.75% of the newly issued special bond funds this year. Relatively speaking, this proportion is not currently high, and there may be room for further increase in the next stage. Industry insiders believe that the accelerated issuance of land reserve special bonds is a key measure for local governments to enhance the liquidity of land plots and promote the stabilization and recovery of the real estate market through the issuance of special bonds.

⭕[Protests Continue in the US, LAPD Reports Over 70 Arrests So Far]

Conflicts have erupted due to law enforcement officers' raids on illegal immigrants in the US, leading to protests in multiple locations and the arrest of numerous protesters. According to the latest data released by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), as of now, over 70 people have been arrested in protests that have occurred in downtown Los Angeles in recent days, with several individuals arrested on charges such as suspected robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. In addition to Los Angeles, protests have also taken place in New York, San Francisco, and other locations. The New York Police Department stated on the 9th that multiple arrests were made during protests in New York City. The San Francisco Police Department stated that approximately 60 protesters had been arrested.

⭕[Rainfall in south China will gradually weaken over the next two days, with many regions in China joining the "marathon" of high temperatures]

Over the next two days (June 10th to 11th), rainfall in south China will gradually weaken, but heavy to torrential rain is still expected in parts of the regions south of the Yangtze River, South China, and Southwest China. Tomorrow, the first typhoon of the year may form, and significant wind and rain are expected in parts of South China from the 12th to the 15th, requiring vigilance. Meanwhile, the area affected by high temperatures in China will rapidly expand starting tomorrow, with high temperatures connecting in the north-west, southwest, and north China, among other regions. Some areas will experience prolonged high temperatures, necessitating precautions against heatstroke.