SMM Notice: Suspension of News Updates During Holidays (Oct 1-8, 2025)

Dear Visitors, We would like to inform you that updates to the news and price sections of our English website will be temporarily suspended during the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays.

Dear visitors Thank you for your continued support. We would like to inform you that due to the Mid-Autumn Festival, all of our news updates will be temporarily suspended during September 15-17.

Dear visitors/subscribers, Thank you for your continued support. We would like to inform you that due to the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, all of our news updates will be temporarily suspended on June 10 and some of our English weekly reports for the week of June 3-7 will be delayed by one day to June 11.  

In the week of May 20-23, refined cobalt prices continued to rise. From the supply side, new production capacity is Steadily ramping up, and the market operating rate remains at a relatively high level. From the downstream demand side, end-user demand has resumed lower-than-expected, with only some essential purchases during the week. Market sentiment remains strong, and spot prices remain firm.

We would like to inform you that due to the upcoming Labour Day holiday,  all of our news updates will be temporarily suspended during May 1-5 and all of our weekly reports for the Labour Day holiday week will also be temporarily cancelled.

Nickel prices dropped last week. By last Friday, SHFE nickel contract closed at 134,710 yuan/mt, down by 5.05% WoW. The decline was driven by waning optimism in the market, leading prices to align with fundamentals.

During the Spring Festival holiday, the LME metal on the outer disk "rose". London Xi led the way with a 3.85% increase, London copper rose 2.99%, London zinc rose 2.58%, London nickel rose 1.62%, London lead rose 0.88%, and London aluminum fell 0.31%.

Review of the Copper Market during the Spring Festival: The downstream operating rate slightly weakened before the holiday. However, according to SMM research, overall pre-holiday inventory levels remained considerable, and terminal consumption was somewhat suppressed due to the previously high copper prices.

SMM offices will be closed for the International Labour Day holiday from April 29 to May 3, 2023. There will be no updates on price data and market news, including SMM Morning Comments and Macro Roundup during this period.