[SMM Analysis]June 13, 2025: The US Department of Commerce announced amendments to Annex 1 of Notice 10896, adding additional Section 232 steel-derived products, such as refrigerator-freezers, dryers, washing machines, dishwashers, stoves/ranges/ovens, kitchen food waste disposers, and welded wire shelving. These products were not previously subject to Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, but starting from June 23, 2025, a 50% tariff will be imposed on them.

Today, Dalian iron ore futures continued to rebound, with the most-traded contract I2509 closing at 716.5 yuan/mt, up 1.99% for the day. Traders were actively shipping goods. As the weekend approached, purchase willingness of steel mills weakened, but better sales of finished steel in the morning drove some demand growth.

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review: Stainless Steel Prices Bottom Out and Rebound, Awaiting Production Cuts Verification] SMM reported on June 27 that the SS futures market exhibited a fluctuating trend, with overall prices remaining stable above 12,600 yuan/mt. In the spot market, stainless steel spot prices experienced fluctuations, initially falling and then rising this week. Early in the week, influenced by low-priced transactions of high-grade NPI and downward adjustments in stainless steel mills' list prices, stainless steel prices fell to their lowest point in nearly five years, with the base price of some 304 cold-rolled mill edge steel coils dropping to 12,100 yuan/mt. Despite continued pessimistic market sentiment, the low prices stimulated some traders' demand to buy the dip and replenish their stocks. Subsequently, news emerged of production cuts at a major stainless steel mill, leading stainless steel spot prices to end their two-month consecutive decline and bottom out and rebound. The market inquiry atmosphere warmed up, with trading conditions slightly improving. Social inventory also declined during the week, falling below 1 million mt. Additionally, when stainless steel mills' list prices were at a low level early in the week, traders were more willing to purchase futures orders, which alleviated the mills' shipping pressure to some extent. In the futures market, the most-traded contract 2508 strengthened and rose. At 10:30 a.m., SS2508 was quoted at 12,620 yuan/mt, down 50 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In the Wuxi region, the spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B stainless steel ranged from 200 to 400 yuan/mt. In the spot market, cold-rolled 201/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan were quoted at 7,625 yuan/mt; cold-rolled mill edge 304/2B coils had an average price of 12,750 yuan/mt in Wuxi, and in Foshan...

[Domestic iron ore brief review: Iron ore concentrates prices in the Tangshan region may rise slightly] Prices of domestic ore in the Tangshan region are relatively stable, with the delivery-to-factory price of 66-grade dry-basis iron ore concentrates (tax included) at 870-880 yuan/mt, constrained by factors such as the difficulty in finding low-cost raw materials, the high risk of losses, and resistance in sales.

As of June 27, SMM data showed that the total inventory of iron ore at 35 ports reached 136.92 million mt, an increase of 140,000 mt WoW.