Copper Cathode Rod Industry Operating Rate Drops 12.43% MoM Ahead of Chinese New Year

Since March 2025, COMEX copper cathode inventories have been building steadily from 83,876 tonnes, reaching a total of 537,540 tonnes as of February 11, 2026, representing an increase of over 450,000 tonnes in visible inventories over the past year.On February 12, 2026, inventories at the exchange recorded their first decline, falling by 1,225 tonnes to 535,715 tonnes.According to SMM market sources, COMEX registered warehouse capacity has been nearly saturated over the past year. Following the recent reversal in the LME–COMEX spread, there are signs that newly added inventories, as well as part of the existing stocks, may begin shifting toward the LME.

During the week of February 6–12，inventory side, copper wire and cable enterprises on the raw material side have largely completed pre-holiday stockpiling. Combined with upstream suppliers gradually entering the holiday, raw material inventories fell 3.37% WoW this week. On the finished product side, enterprises stocked up moderately to meet post-holiday demand, but due to uncertainties around the Chinese New Year holiday and copper price trends after the holiday, stockpiling sentiment remained cautious, with no large-scale stockpiling observed.