SMM Tin Morning Briefing, March 27, 2026:
Futures: The most-traded SHFE tin contract opened sharply lower in the night session and then fluctuated upward, closing at 348,090 yuan/mt, down 1.26%.
Macro: (1) On March 26, the State Administration for Market Regulation held its first Fair Competition Symposium for Enterprises of 2026. Centered on the theme of “regulating corporate competitive conduct and building a sound competitive ecosystem for enterprises to go global,” it conducted in-depth exchanges with representatives from enterprises including China Minmetals, China State Construction, CATL, BYD, Chery Automobile, Didi, and Meituan, and solicited opinions and suggestions. Meng Yang introduced the administration’s work in safeguarding fair market competition and supporting enterprises in fostering new competitive advantages. He emphasized that the administration would resolutely implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, strengthen antitrust regulation and law enforcement, enhance corporate compliance guidance, intensify efforts to address “involution-style” competition, deepen institutional opening-up in the competition field, and provide stronger support for enterprises in expanding into international markets and achieving high-quality development. (2) The General Office of the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government issued the Implementation Plan for Promoting the High-Quality Development of Guangzhou’s Artificial Intelligence Industry. The plan proposed focusing on advancing the R&D and promotion of intelligent hardware products such as intelligent connected vehicles, intelligent unmanned systems, whole-home intelligent terminals, smart wearable devices, industrial intelligent terminals, and brain-computer interfaces; promoting the application of large in-vehicle edge-side models; and supporting the development of AIoT systems integrating home appliances, central control, and sensors. It also called for advancing the commercialization of embodied AI robots, supporting enterprises in independently developing core parts, and expanding the application of intelligent robots in industrial manufacturing, household services, healthcare, and other fields.
Fundamentals: (1) Supply side: In March, most smelters gradually resumed production and operations, emerging from the holiday state. (2) Demand side: Downstream procurement remained relatively cautious. Downstream enterprises gradually resumed production and operations, but orders were relatively mediocre.
Spot market: Trading in the spot market remained subdued. Earlier, when tin prices were in the 320,000-330,000 yuan/mt range, downstream enterprises had already seen a concentrated release of demand for restocking on dips. At present, willingness to follow up with purchases was average, with market participants mostly digesting existing inventory and maintaining stable operations.
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