1. According to data from the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, as of December 29, 2025, the Shanghai Export Containerized Freight Index (Europe route) was 1742.64 points, up 9.7% compared to the previous period.
2. According to Mysteel, on December 29, some steel mills in Hebei Province lowered the price of wet-quenched coke by 50 yuan/ton and dry-quenched coke by 55 yuan/ton, effective from midnight on January 1, 2026, marking the start of the fourth round of coke price reductions.
3. According to SMM, Tianjin Steel plans to conduct maintenance on a 2000m³ blast furnace starting January 1, affecting an average daily output of 6,000 tons, with a maintenance period of 30 days.
4. According to foreign media reports, the Indian Ministry of Food announced that the domestic sugar sales quota for January 2026 is 2.2 million tons, lower than the quota level for January 2025. The sugar quota for December 2025 is 2.2 million tons, and for January 2025 it is 2.25 million tons.
5. According to data from the National Grain and Oil Information Center, since December, domestic oilseed processing plants have maintained a high soybean crushing volume of over 2 million tons. Based on crushing monitoring, as of December 26, the soybean crushing volume of major oilseed processing plants nationwide was approximately 7.7 million tons. It is estimated that the total soybean crushing volume of major domestic oilseed processing plants in December will be around 8.9 million tons, an increase of approximately 700,000 tons year-on-year, and an increase of approximately 600,000 tons compared to the average of the same period over the past three years.
6. Data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that private exporters reported sales of 100,000 tons of soybeans to Egypt, to be delivered in the 2025/2026 marketing year.
7. According to CONAB, the national commodity supply company under the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, as of December 27, the soybean planting rate in Brazil was 97.9%, compared to 97.6% last week, 98.2% at the same time last year, and a five-year average of 96.7%; the soybean harvest rate was 0.1%, the same as last year, and a five-year average of 0.1%.
8. According to an announcement by Boyuan Chemical, its subsidiary, Xilingol Sunite Alkali Industry Co., Ltd., is experiencing operational difficulties and continuous losses due to a combination of factors, including declining natural alkali resource quality, falling product prices, large workforce, relatively outdated equipment, and high costs of bulk material procurement. It is expected that the losses will be difficult to reverse for a considerable period. To reduce operating costs and avoid further losses and capital investment from continued production, the company has decided to implement a long-term shutdown of Sunite Alkali Industry.
9. The Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China released its recommendations on formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of Yunnan Province. The recommendations emphasize strengthening, optimizing, and expanding resource-based industries. Relying on technological development and intensive processing, we will consolidate and enhance the position of resource-based industries such as aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, non-ferrous metals, and rare and precious metals in the national industrial and supply chains. We will strengthen the comprehensive utilization of recycled resources such as aluminum, copper, and platinum group metals.
10. UBS raised its gold price target for the first three quarters of 2026 to $5,000 per ounce on Monday, and expects the price to fall back to $4,800 per ounce by the end of 2026, higher than its previous forecast of $4,300 per ounce.
11. According to SMM research, environmental control measures in Luoyang and Gongyi have been continuously tightened, and some local aluminum processing enterprises have completely suspended production. Spot demand has continued to shrink accordingly, and production is expected to gradually resume after the New Year's Day holiday.
12. On Monday, spot silver broke through the $80/ounce mark for the first time in history in early Asian trading, and quickly surged to near the $84 mark, a gain of nearly 6%. However, the market subsequently reversed sharply, with the price falling by more than 11% at one point during the New York market session. COMEX gold futures closed down 4.45% at $4,350.2 per ounce, while COMEX silver futures closed down 7.2% at $71.64 per ounce.
