The Most-Traded SHFE Tin Contract Rebounded Amid Volatility After Opening Sharply Higher in the Night Session, and the Spot Market Will Gradually Cool Down [SMM Tin Morning Brief]

SMM Tin Morning Commentary, March 24, 2026:

Futures: The most-traded SHFE tin contract opened sharply higher in the night session and then fluctuated upward, closing at 348,950 yuan/mt, up 3.23%.

Macro: (1) In recent days, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Li Lecheng, and Vice Ministers Xin Guobin and Xiong Jijun, respectively met in Beijing with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon, SK Hynix President and CEO Kwak Noh-Jung, Volkswagen Group Chairman of the Board of Management Oliver Blume, Mercedes-Benz Group Chairman of the Board of Management Ola Källenius, and Siemens AG Supervisory Board Chairman, who came to China to attend the China Development Forum 2026 Annual Meeting. Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that China was vigorously advancing new-type industrialization, accelerating the building of a modern industrial system underpinned by advanced manufacturing, consolidating and strengthening the foundations of the real economy, and ensuring a strong start to the 15th Five-Year Plan. China will further deepen reform comprehensively, continue expanding high-level opening up, foster a first-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, and share the development opportunities of Chinese modernization with all parties. It is hoped that multinational enterprises will continue to deepen their presence in the Chinese market, collaborate on innovation-driven growth with upstream and downstream enterprises in China’s industry chain, and achieve mutually beneficial, win-win development. (2) According to a March 21 report by the Nikkei website, Japanese automakers’ cumulative global auto sales in 2025 edged down to about 25 million units, dropping from the top spot for the first time since 2000. Chinese automakers’ cumulative global sales last year reached nearly 27 million units, surpassing Japan and ranking first in the world for the first time. The Nikkei website reached this conclusion based on statistics compiled from data released by automakers and survey data from global automotive information platform MarkLines. According to the report, BYD’s sales in 2025 surpassed Ford, ranking sixth globally, while Geely’s sales exceeded Honda’s, ranking eighth. In the battery EV segment, BYD overtook US EV brand Tesla to rank first globally. Among the top 20 global automakers by sales, six Chinese automakers made the list, exceeding Japan’s five. Chery, Changan, SAIC, and Great Wall were among them.

Fundamentals: (1) Supply side: In March, most smelters gradually resumed production and operations, ending their holiday status. (2) Demand side: Downstream procurement remained cautious, and downstream enterprises gradually resumed production and operations, but orders were relatively mediocre.

Spot market: Overall trading sentiment in the spot market remained relatively active, with many downstream enterprises placing bids at low prices. As traders’ willingness to sell was relatively mediocre, spot quotes held relatively high premiums, somewhat limiting the increase in traded volumes.

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