High Copper Prices Lead to Reduced Cable and Wire Inventories, Operating Rates Expected to Fall Further
In terms of cable and wire inventories this week, constrained by high copper prices, cable and wire enterprises generally adopted a rigid-demand purchasing strategy, locking in prices for small restocking only during minor copper price pullbacks. As a result, raw material inventories edged down 0.49% month-on-month. To ease inventory pressure, downstream enterprises prioritized drawing down finished goods inventories, which fell 2.33% month-on-month. Looking ahead to next week, the weak demand pattern across all segments is unlikely to reverse, and the industry lacks short-term recovery momentum. Under the dual pressure of high copper prices and off-season demand, SMM expects the copper cable and wire operating rate to fall a further 1.18 percentage points month-on-month to 61.08% next week (August 14–August 20), representing a year-on-year decline of 7.8 percentage points.