Today, iron ore futures were in the doldrums, with DCE I2601 contract closing at 800 yuan, down 0.56% from the previous trading day. Mainstream spot cargoes at ports fell 0-5 yuan/mt compared to yesterday.

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review: Bullish Macro Expectations Exhausted, Market Returns to Fundamentals; Weak Demand Keeps Stainless Steel Prices in the Doldrums] SMM October 31 – SS futures trended lower. Today, both SS and SHFE nickel futures weakened in tandem, with prices approaching 12,600 yuan/mt at one point during the session. In the spot market, the continued weakness in SS futures further dampened market confidence. Coupled with already sluggish transactions, traders lowered their offers further. During the week, stainless steel spot prices remained in the doldrums. With all bullish macro factors already priced in, the rally in SS futures paused, and the market refocused on fundamentals, with weak downstream demand dominating sentiment. Although there were reports of production cuts at stainless steel mills, the actual implementation remains to be seen. This week, social inventory increased slightly, up 0.04% WoW to 946,800 mt. The most-traded SS2512 futures contract declined. At 10:30 a.m., SS2512 was quoted at 12,710 yuan/mt, down 60 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In Wuxi, spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B were in the range of 260-610 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the average price for cold-rolled 201/2B coil in Wuxi was 8,050 yuan/mt; for cold-rolled mill-edge 304/2B coil, the average price in Wuxi was 12,950 yuan/mt, and in Foshan, 12,950 yuan/mt; for cold-rolled 316L/2B coil, the price in Wuxi was 25,300 yuan/mt, and in Foshan, 25,300 yuan/mt; for hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil, both locations reported 24,800 yuan/mt; for cold-rolled 430/2B coil, both Wuxi and Foshan reported 7,600 yuan/mt…

[Domestic Iron Ore Brief: Iron Ore Concentrate Prices in Tangshan May Edge Down] Iron ore concentrate prices in Tangshan, Hebei, remained relatively stable, with the delivery-to-factory price, tax included, for Fe66% iron ore concentrates on a dry basis ranging from 1,020 to 1,030 yuan/mt. The relatively tight supply of local iron ore concentrates provided some support to domestic ore prices.

According to the SMM survey, as of October 29, the blast furnace operating rate of the 242 steel mills surveyed by SMM stood at 86.21%, down 0.91 percentage points WoW.

The iron ore futures rose continuously this morning but pulled back slightly in the afternoon. The most-traded contract I2601 finally closed at 802.5 yuan, up 0.38% from the previous working day. Spot cargo prices at ports were basically flat compared with the previous working day,

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review: SS Futures Fell Again, Weak Demand in Stainless Steel Market Remained Unchanged] SMM October 30 - SS futures showed a downward trend. Today, nonferrous and ferrous metals futures generally declined, and SS futures followed suit, falling to as low as 12,700 yuan/mt during the session. In the spot market, SS futures remained relatively stable in the morning, and spot market selling prices held steady temporarily. Due to traders' high holding costs, further price concessions were difficult. Additionally, SS futures were at relatively high levels before noon, leading to upward price adjustments. However, in the afternoon, dragged down by the pullback in futures, market confidence weakened, and prices fell again. Social inventory saw a slight buildup this week, rising WoW to 946,800 mt. The most-traded SS2512 futures contract declined. At 10:30 a.m., SS2512 was quoted at 12,770 yuan/mt, up 15 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In Wuxi, the spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B were in the range of 250-550 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the average price of cold-rolled 201/2B coil in Wuxi was 8,050 yuan/mt; the average price of cold-rolled mill-edge 304/2B coil was 13,000 yuan/mt in both Wuxi and Foshan; cold-rolled 316L/2B coil in Wuxi was 25,300 yuan/mt, and 25,300 yuan/mt in Foshan; hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil was quoted at 24,800 yuan/mt in both locations; cold-rolled 430/2B coil was 7,600 yuan/mt in both Wuxi and Foshan...