SMM Analysis: Outlook for 2025 Chinese New Year Break Impact on Copper Cathode Rod Enterprises

Latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on March 27 showed that in January and February 2026, the total profits of industrial enterprises above designated size nationwide were 1,024.56 billion yuan, up 15.2% YoY.

On March 28, the commissioning ceremony for the TCL Air Conditioner Guangzhou Intelligent Manufacturing Base and the rollout of its 100 millionth air conditioner over five years was held in Nansha, Guangzhou. With a total investment of nearly 2 billion yuan, the base features three world-class fully flexible lights-out factories, 15 advanced laboratories, 10 intelligent production lines, and highly intensive collaboration by industrial robots. Supported by ultra-high data computing power, highly multi-axis machine automation, and a powerful AI agent collaboration platform, the base reached an annual capacity of 8 million units. It was expected to generate output value of 3 billion yuan in 2026, with a target of exceeding 10 billion yuan in output value during the 15th Five-Year Plan period

According to the latest production schedule report on the three major white goods categories released by ChinaIOL, the combined production schedule for air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines in April 2026 totaled 37.64 million units, down 3.6 YoY compared to actual production in the same period last year. By product, the production schedule for household air conditioners in April was 21.32 million units, down 4.9 YoY compared to actual production in the same period last year; refrigerator production schedule was 8.21 million units, down slightly 0.1 YoY compared to actual production in the same period last year; washing machine production schedule was 8.11 million units, down 3.7 YoY compared to actual production in the same period last year.