◎ According to data from the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in early June 2025, key steel enterprises produced 21.59 million tons of crude steel, with a daily average of 2.159 million tons, a month-on-month (m-o-m) increase of 3.2%. Steel product inventories stood at 15.79 million tons, an increase of 490,000 tons or 3.2% compared to the previous ten-day period.
◎ Last week, the number of blast furnace and rolling mill maintenance lines at steel plants decreased. Steel mills in 9 provinces/cities involved maintenance and resumption. Specifically, 8 lines underwent maintenance (a decrease of 8 lines m-o-m), while 9 lines resumed production (an increase of 6 lines m-o-m). Based on daily rolling mill capacity estimates, maintenance and resumption led to a net production decrease of 48,000 tons last week. This week, maintenance and resumption are expected to cause a net production increase of 69,300 tons.
◎ US President Trump formally approved Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion acquisition of US Steel on June 13th.
◎ The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced it will conduct 400 billion yuan in outright reverse repurchase operations on June 16th. This is the second time the central bank has announced such operations this month.
◎ On June 14th, two refineries in Iran's southern Bushehr province were attacked by Israeli airstrikes, marking Israel's first direct strike on Iranian energy infrastructure. Explosions and fires occurred at the Phase 14 facilities of the South Pars refinery, and the Fajr Jam refinery was also hit. The South Pars gas field is the world's largest, accounting for about two-thirds of Iran's natural gas supply.
◎ The World Trade Organization (WTO) held its second annual meeting of the Council for Trade in Services in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 13th. The Chinese representative pointed out the misleading narrative and flawed logic behind the US concept of "reciprocal tariffs". China urged the US to comply with WTO rules, resolve differences through multilateral cooperation rather than unilateral measures, and work with all parties to maintain the stability of the global trading system.
◎ According to the General Administration of Customs, in the first five months of 2025, China's imports and exports with the five Central Asian countries reached 286.42 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.4%, hitting a record high for the period.
◎ The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters decided to initiate a Level IV emergency response for flood control in Zhejiang province at 9:00 AM on the 15th, while maintaining a Level III emergency response for flood and typhoon control in Guangdong and Guangxi. Two working groups dispatched earlier by the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters Office are currently in Guangdong and Guangxi guiding flood prevention and disaster relief efforts.
◎ On June 15th local time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel is willing to halt its actions if Iran accepts the US demand to abandon its nuclear program.
◎ US President Trump said that Iran and Israel should reach an agreement, noting that "many calls and talks are happening right now." Trump expressed willingness to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin as a mediator in the Iran-Israel conflict.
◎ On June 13th, iron ore transactions at major Chinese ports totaled 801,000 tons, down 6.2% m-o-m. Transactions of construction steel by 237 mainstream traders amounted to 101,800 tons, up 14.1% m-o-m.
◎ Over the past weekend, the ex-factory price (including tax) for Tangshan Qian'an billet remained stable at 2,900 yuan per ton.
◎ Last week, national billet inventories held in society decreased by 77,900 tons to 742,900 tons, hitting a new low for the year. This represents a decrease of 652,500 tons from the year's peak recorded on February 13th.
◎ Last week, the total imported iron ore inventory held by Chinese steel mills nationwide was 87.9868 million tons, an increase of 1.085 million tons m-o-m.
◎ Last week, imported coking coal inventories at 16 major ports nationwide stood at 5.4473 million tons, down 10,000 tons m-o-m. Coke inventories at 18 major ports totaled 2.5869 million tons, down 81,600 tons m-o-m.
◎ Last week, the average capacity utilization rate of 90 independent electric arc furnace (EAF) steel mills nationwide was 56.73%, down 1.97 percentage points m-o-m.
◎ Last week, the blast furnace capacity utilization rate of 247 steel mills nationwide was 90.58%, down 0.07 percentage points m-o-m.
◎ Linggang Steel (Linggang Co., Ltd.) announced that to improve management efficiency, reduce operating costs, and decrease the number of loss-making enterprises, the company plans to absorb and merge its wholly-owned subsidiary Linggang Co., Ltd. Beipiao Steel Pipe Co., Ltd., effectively closing it down.
◎ According to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway), from January to May 2025, national railway fixed asset investment reached 242.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.9%.
◎ On June 15th, the first stop of the 2025 New Energy Vehicle (NEV) Down to the Countryside campaign, organized by five departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), kicked off in Rugao, Jiangsu province. A total of 124 NEV models are included in this year's campaign.
◎ Xu Changming, a Senior Economist at the State Information Center, stated that domestic passenger car demand by price segment shows two distinct phases: continuous consumption upgrading before 2023, followed by consecutive downgrading in 2024. In the past year and this year, sales of models priced above 300,000 yuan saw negative growth. Conversely, models priced below 100,000 yuan saw sales increase by 51% in the first five months of this year.
◎ GAC Group, along with its five major brands (Hypertron, Trumpchi, Aion, GAC Honda, GAC Toyota), pledged starting June 14th to ensure the settlement of dealer rebates within two months, promoting the high-quality development of the automotive industry.
09:30 China's 70-City New and Second-Hand Housing Price Indices (to be released);
10:00 China's Monthly Economic Data for Jan-May (to be released): Value-added of Industrial Enterprises above Designated Size, Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods, Real Estate Development Investment, etc.