Copper Price Correction Drove Production of Copper Wire and Cable, but End-User Caution Curbed Order Growth [SMM Wire and Cable Market Weekly Review]

This week (March 13–19), the operating rate of SMM copper wire and cable enterprises was 70.52, up 3.93 percentage points MoM and down 6.69 percentage points YoY. The operating rate rebounded steadily this week, mainly due to the pullback in copper prices. However, some end-user clients adopted a wait-and-see stance amid fears of further price declines, which somewhat restrained order releases. By segment, order growth was relatively strong in the power and NEV sectors, while performance in other sectors was slightly weaker. On the inventory side, the pullback in copper prices drove wire and cable enterprises to restock raw materials, but against the backdrop of continued price weakness, enterprises also turned more cautious in procurement sentiment, and raw material inventory increased 6.68% MoM this week. As for finished product inventories, although they declined somewhat on the back of the copper price correction, some end-user clients remained bearish on future prices, and finished product inventories fell 4.44% MoM. Looking ahead to next week, current orders on hand will provide support for enterprise production schedules, but as wait-and-see sentiment among end-user enterprises remains strong, SMM expects the operating rate of copper wire and cable enterprises to increase 1.54 percentage points MoM to 72.06 next week (March 20–26), down 0.8 percentage points YoY.