Operating rates at key copper rod producers using copper cathode

The operating rates at key copper rod producers using copper cathode were 74.03% last week (October 27-November 2), a decline of 13.13 percentage points from a week earlier. New orders cooled down further due to higher copper prices.

According to the surveyed plants, new downstream orders have begun to decrease since the week of October 23, and the production pace of copper rod plants has gradually slowed down. last week, many large plants reduced production. In addition, strict environmental inspections due to haze weather in north China forced a large copper rod plant to reduce production, which dragged down the operating rates. SMM data shows that the average price spread between copper rod produced with copper cathode and with copper scrap last week (October 27-November 2) expanded to 856 yuan/mt, but was still disadvantageous for users. On Thursday, the discounts of copper rod produced with copper scrap were 160 yuan/mt against the SHFE front-month copper contract in Jiangxi.