1. According to Mysteel, as of the week ending February 26, rebar production reversed its upward trend and began to decline, while mill inventories increased for the sixth consecutive week and social inventories increased for the eighth consecutive week. Apparent demand reversed its downward trend and began to increase. Specifically, rebar production was 1.651 million tons, a decrease of 52,800 tons from the previous week, a drop of 3.10%; apparent demand was 805,400 tons, an increase of 393,800 tons from the previous week, an increase of 95.68%.
2. According to the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), in mid-February 2026, key steel enterprises produced a total of 20.29 million tons of crude steel, with an average daily output of 2.029 million tons, a 4.3% increase compared to the previous week; steel inventory at key steel enterprises was 18.12 million tons, an increase of 3.01 million tons from the previous ten-day period, a growth of 19.9%; an increase of 3.98 million tons from the beginning of the year, a growth of 28.2%; and an increase of 1.99 million tons from the same ten-day period of the previous month, a growth of 12.3%.
3. World Steel Association: In January 2026, crude steel production in 69 countries/regions included in the World Steel Association's statistics totaled 147.3 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 6.5%. China's crude steel production was 75.27 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 13.9%.
4. Data from the Southern Peninsula Palm Oil Pressors Association (SPPOMA) shows that from February 1st to 25th, 2026, Malaysian palm oil yield per hectare decreased by 16.78% compared to the same period last month, oil extraction rate increased by 0.1% compared to the same period last month, and production decreased by 16.25% compared to the same period last month.
5. The Department of Rural Economy of Paraná State, Brazil (Deral), stated that Paraná State's soybean production for 2025/26 is projected at 22.12 million tons, slightly higher than the January forecast of 22.04 million tons, representing a 4% increase over the previous year.
6. According to the latest data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as of February 20, the number of unpriced sell orders for the ICE cotton futures ON-CA11 contract for the 2025/26 marketing year (August to July of the following year) was 32,472, a decrease of 827 contracts compared to the previous week.
7. Nine Dragons Paper announced a new round of price increases for packaging paper at multiple bases in China, effective March 4, with all major products seeing price increases.
8. According to Longzhong Information, no glass production lines were started up or underwent water-cooling maintenance this week. As of February 26, the float glass industry's operating rate was 70.61%, unchanged from February 19; one glass production line was producing glass sheets, and the industry's capacity utilization rate was 74.49%, an increase of 0.3 percentage points from February 19, leading to a 0.41% increase in daily glass production to 148,600 tons.
9. Sources say global aluminum producers are seeking a premium of $220 to $250 per tonne in negotiations with Japan for April to June, up 13% to 28% from the current quarter.
10. On the evening of February 26, Tianli Lithium Energy announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sichuan Tianli, had completed its scheduled maintenance and fully resumed production on February 24, 2026.
11. The International Aluminium Institute (IAI) projects global alumina production of 13.094 million tons in January 2026, compared to 12.953 million tons in the same period last year, with the previous month's figure revised to 13.566 million tons. China's alumina production in January is projected to be 7.86 million tons, with the previous month's figure revised to 8.17 million tons.
