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Chile's National Institute of Statistics (INE) said on Friday that copper production in the world's largest producer, Chile, was up 5.1% YoY to 447,294 mt in June.

OpenRouter previously disclosed that the global market share of Chinese models had overall surpassed that of US models by early June. As of July 26, Chinese models held approximately 63.5% of the market over the past 28 days, while US models held only 35.5%, accounting for two-thirds of the global market, with the gap further widening.

According to the SMM survey, in July 2026, the operating rate of mainstream domestic wire and cable enterprises reached 69.82%, down 2.4 percentage points MoM and 2.79 percentage points YoY. Pressured by both copper prices consolidating at highs and the downstream entering the traditional consumption off-season, new orders weakened, leading to a pullback in production loads.

According to the SMM survey, in July 2026, the overall operating rate of China's wire and cable enterprises was 69.82%. Among them, the operating rate for large enterprises was 75.13%, for medium-sized enterprises was 47.75%, and for small enterprises was 46.93%.

According to the SMM survey, in July 2026, raw material inventories of China’s wire and cable enterprises decreased by 0.45% MoM to 22.54%, while finished product inventories increased by 1.23% MoM to 18.98%.

According to the SMM survey, the operating rate of major domestic wire and cable enterprises in August 2026 is expected to be 68.64%, down 1.17 percentage points MoM and 3.78 percentage points YoY.

After the closing bell on Thursday in the Eastern Time zone, Amazon raised its full-year capital expenditure forecast to $220 billion. The company's CEO, Andy Jassy, said during an investor conference call that even at this investment level, "computing power supply in 2026 will still be unable to fully meet all customer demands. We expect a similar supply gap in 2027. In fact, the scale of computing power orders already locked in by customers for 2028 is already quite staggering."

This week, regarding inventories at China's wire and cable enterprises, raw material purchases remained cautious, with restocking conducted only on slight price corrections for essential needs. Raw material inventories fell 0.47% WoW. Facing weak demand in the off-season, wire and cable enterprises slowed their production pace, prioritizing the digestion of existing finished product inventories. Finished product inventories decreased 1.48% WoW.

Looking ahead to next week's operating rate for wire and cable enterprises, the industry remains in the traditional consumption off-season, and the renewed rise in copper prices further dampened downstream order signing willingness. Enterprises will continue to lower production loads. SMM expects that next week (July 31–August 6), the copper wire and cable operating rate will decline 1.5 percentage points WoW to 64.44%, and drop 1.5 percentage points YoY.

July copper cathode production was recorded at 1.1268 million mt, down 1.59% MoM.

July SMM Copper Cathode Production...

[SMM Copper Cathode Production] China's copper cathode production in July recorded 1.1268 million mt, down 1.59% MoM; cumulatively, Jan–Jul production was 8.148 million mt, up 4.9% YoY, with cumulative growth of 381,000 mt. July production was 39,200 mt lower than the projected 1.166 million mt, mainly due to procurement difficulties for scrap anode plates and concentrated maintenance at smelters.

Fushun Sairuite Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. — Professional Manufacturer of Renewable Resource Sorting Equipment

South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on July 31 that it signed an MOU on the Korea-Chile Mineral Resources Partnership with the Chilean government on July 30 local time, during Korean President's official visit to Chile. The MOU expands and restructures the mineral resources cooperation MOU signed by the two countries in 2004. The existing vice-ministerial resources cooperation committee will be upgraded to a regular ministerial-level channel, while a new working-level consultation channel at the director-general level will also be established under the committee.