Shandong Copper Cathode Market Trading Activity Heated Up

According to SMM, the operating rate of the copper plate/sheet and strip industry was 41.98% in February 2026, down 28.04 percentage points MoM and down 14.49 percentage points YoY. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 47.35%, that of medium-sized enterprises was 35.28%, and that of small enterprises was 31.80%.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, with the delivery period approaching, spot discounts in Shanghai spot copper are expected to continue narrowing steadily. Intraday, and quotes in the second session were generally raised, with the transaction center moving up somewhat. From a market-driver perspective, the continued decline in copper prices has kept stimulating downstream willingness to buy the dip; both purchasing and selling sentiment rebounded, and order activity increased, providing support for spot cargo. On the supply side, domestic copper and previously price-locked imported cargo continued to arrive, and overall circulation was relatively ample, placing some constraints on the room for discount recovery. Overall, spot discounts are expected to maintain a steady upward trend tomorrow.