Today, the Dalian iron ore futures market moved steadily and fluctuated narrowly. The main contract I2601 finally closed at

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review: SS Futures Remained Weak, Steel Mills Lowered Prices and Spot Stainless Steel Followed Suit] SMM, November 5: SS futures showed a downward trend. Today, ferrous metals futures weakened further, and SS futures followed suit, trading below 12,600 yuan/mt throughout the day, with intraday lows approaching 12,500 yuan/mt again. In the spot market, as SS futures continued to decline, pessimistic sentiment in the stainless steel market intensified, and transactions were mainly driven by rigid demand. In the afternoon, a stainless steel mill in South China released its latest prices, which generally fell by 200 yuan compared to the previous round. Currently, stainless steel prices are at relatively low levels, and steel mills are facing inverted cost prices, but this has still failed to reverse the current pessimistic sentiment in the market, and transactions remained weak. The most-traded SS2512 futures contract declined. At 10:30 a.m., SS2512 was quoted at 12,560 yuan/mt, down 65 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In Wuxi, the spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B were in the range of 360-660 yuan/mt. In the spot market, the average price of cold-rolled 201/2B coils in Wuxi was 8,050 yuan/mt; the average price of cold-rolled mill-edge 304/2B coils was 12,900 yuan/mt in Wuxi and 12,900 yuan/mt in Foshan; the price of cold-rolled 316L/2B coils in Wuxi was 25,150 yuan/mt, while in Foshan it was 25,200 yuan/mt; the price of hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coils in Wuxi was 24,550 yuan/mt; the price of cold-rolled 430/2B coils in both Wuxi and Foshan was 760...

[Domestic Iron Ore Review: Iron Ore Concentrate Prices in Tangshan May Remain in the Doldrums] Iron ore concentrate prices in Tangshan edged lower this week, with local supply from mines and beneficiation plants remaining relatively tight. The operating rate at mines and beneficiation plants stayed at a low level, and overall willingness to hold prices firm remained relatively strong. Market transactions were generally sluggish. On the steel mill side, affected by the local environmental protection-driven production restriction policy,

Chinese steel futures rose first and then fell last week, and prices continued to pull back after this week's opening. Current normal HRC export offers are at $460-465/mt, with buyer bids around $445-450/mt. Overseas clients recently held an overall bearish view on the steel market, leading to moderate transaction performance through price reductions. As futures pulled back, market inquiries increased. In the Thai market this week, apart from HRC prices being lowered, most other mainstream imported resources held steady. Traders mainly adopted a wait-and-see approach, awaiting the announcement of ex-factory price policies from mainstream steel mills. It is noteworthy that recent frequent overseas anti-dumping and anti-circumvention investigations mostly involve cold-rolled products and HRC. According to an SMM survey, Thailand has now initiated an anti-circumvention investigation on wide coil. Following Vietnam's wide coil anti-circumvention case, this marks a further strengthening of trade barriers in the Southeast Asian market, and China's subsequent HRC exports are expected to face increased difficulty.

This time, Thailand initiated an anti-circumvention investigation against the involved products from China. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, the total volume of China's involved products exported to Thailand in the first nine months of 2025 was 153,400 mt, accounting for 3.92% of China's total exports of the involved products, indicating a relatively limited overall impact. In an extreme scenario, this could lead to a decrease of 153,400 mt in China's total exports in 2026. Data show that the top five countries for China's exports of the involved products in 2025 were the Philippines (25.35%), Indonesia (7.34%), Brazil (5.59%), Vietnam (5.21%), and Thailand (3.92%). In 2020, the top five countries were Thailand (18.89%), South Korea (7.34%), the Philippines (5.59%), Vietnam (5.21%), and Myanmar (3.92%). It is evident that while Thailand has increased anti-dumping and anti-circumvention investigations against China's involved products, domestic export traders are actively seeking new export destinations to hedge against the pressure. However, currently, China's exports of the involved products to the Philippines account for 25.35%, which is excessively high and requires vigilance against potential investigations by the Philippines on China's involved products

Today, the price of iron ore futures continued to fluctuate weakly. The main contract I2601 finally closed at 775.5 yuan, down 1.71% from the previous working day. The mainstream spot price at ports fell by 2-8 yuan/ton from the previous working day. The transaction price of PB powder in Shandong area was 780-785 yuan/ton

[SMM Stainless Steel Daily Review: SS Futures Continued to Decline, Market Pessimism, Low Stainless Steel Prices Failed to Boost Transactions] SMM, November 4 – SS futures showed a downward trend. Today, ferrous metals and SHFE nickel futures weakened overall, and SS futures followed suit, approaching 12,500 yuan/mt during the session, with weak momentum persisting. In the spot market, the continuous decline in SS futures further intensified cautious wait-and-see sentiment in the downstream end-use market for stainless steel. Although stainless steel mills lifted price restrictions yesterday, leading to further declines in stainless steel offers, this failed to boost actual transactions, and market inquiries and deals remained weak. The most-traded SS2512 contract fell. At 10:30 a.m., SS2512 was quoted at 12,560 yuan/mt, down 65 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. In Wuxi, the spot premiums/discounts for 304/2B were in the range of 360-660 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 edged 304/2B coil, the average price in Wuxi was 12,900 yuan/mt, and in Foshan, 12,900 yuan/mt; for cold-rolled 316L/2B coil in Wuxi, 25,150 yuan/mt, and in Foshan, 25,200 yuan/mt; for hot-rolled 316L/NO.1 coil in Wuxi, 24,550 yuan/mt; for cold-rolled 430/2B coil in both Wuxi and Foshan, 7,600 yuan/mt. Although SS futures had been rising previously, their impact on the stainless steel spot market was relatively limited. The traditional peak consumption season for stainless steel, the September-October peak season, ended early, and downstream end-users...

[Domestic Iron Ore Brief: Iron Ore Concentrate Prices in Western Liaoning May Edge Down] Trading activity in the domestic ore market in western Liaoning is sluggish, but current prices remain relatively firm. The ex-factory price for 66% grade iron ore concentrates on a wet basis, excluding tax, stands at 740–750 yuan/mt. Spot resources are currently tight, with sellers holding firm on higher prices. Traders and steel mills are under no urgent pressure to restock and show weak purchase willingness at these price levels. Buyers and sellers are mainly adopting a cautious wait-and-see approach.

According to the SMM survey, the impact from maintenance on construction steel saw a slight decrease during the current period (11.1-11.7), mainly due to production resumptions at the construction steel rolling lines of multiple steel mills in east China last week. The impact from maintenance on construction steel during this period reached 1.2428 million mt, down 40,500 mt WoW.