A research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Science, together with multiple domestic universities, identified a high-protein gene, THP3-T, from wild maize and introduced it to raise protein content significantly in China’s main commercial maize varieties. The trait could reduce soybean-meal demand in livestock and poultry feed, lower China’s soybean import dependence and bolster feed-supply security; the study was published in Nature on June 3.

Hong Kong shares closed lower: the Hang Seng Index fell 1.56% and the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 2.74%; heavyweight tech stocks were broadly weaker.

June 2 — COMEX copper surged to $6.649/lb intraday (about $14,658/t) as the COMEX–LME spread briefly widened to nearly $700; inventories at the two exchanges are also diverging. In 2025 the spread neared $3,000, triggering large cross-exchange arbitrage and a subsequent rise in COMEX stocks. Market participants say the current spread expansion is reshaping trade flows and producing regional supply mismatches, with shortages outside the U.S. persisting. On these supply–demand fundamentals, copper likely retains upward momentum over the short- to medium-term.