Top News on China steel and other commodity markets

Shagang Group (Shagang), China's leading privately-owned steel firm and the largest electric-arc-furnace steelmaker, has decided to hold its long-product list prices for sales over March 1-10 from the previous eight-day period, the company announced last Sunday.

Rio Tinto, a multinational producer of iron ore, aluminum, and copper, has halted negotiations with its Japanese customers on aluminum supply premiums for the second quarter, amid rising geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East, according to media reports.

The most-traded GFEX lithium carbonate futures contract hit the daily limit down on March 3, 2026, with LC2605 closing the day session at Yuan 150,860 /tonne, with a settlement price of Yuan 157,560/tonne, an intraday loss of 12.99%. In addition, the open interest decreased by 38,732 lots. According

Against the backdrop of Middle East tensions, China's natural gas market will face several challenges amid the blockade of Iran's Strait of Hormuz, including supply gap, rising costs, potential import halt, and shift in contracting strategies.

The escalating military conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran is set to cripple China's steel exports to the Middle East, with countries reliant on transiting the Strait of Hormuz bearing the brunt of the disruption, Mysteel Global notes.

The escalation of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East on February 28, which led to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, has injected a significant risk premium into international crude oil prices, providing strong cost-side support to the Chinese naphtha market.

According to OilChem's survey, China's gasoline market is projected to see contracting demand that outpaces the reduction on the supply side, resulting in accumulating inventory, which will likely subsequently weigh on the prices.   In detail, China's gasoline consumption is estimated at around 400,

Middle East tensions, threatening the Strait of Hormuza, a critical sulfur export artery, reversed a holiday-driven lull: Chinese buyers rushed to restock, lifting sulfur spot prices from Yuan 4,080-4,090/t to as high as Yuan 4,200/t.

A major escalation in Middle East tensions has sent shockwaves through China's LPG market, with prices jumping sharply by Yuan 50-100/t and Yuan 100-200/t in northern and southern China respectively following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global energy shipments.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the steel industry in North China's Hebei province, the country's top steel-production base, shrank again by 4.1 points on month in February to 48.8, dropping below the 50-threshold signaling contraction, according to the latest data released by the Hebei Met