According to SMM, the comprehensive operating rate of the enamelled wire industry in August 2026 was 67.95%, down 2.02 percentage points MoM and up 1.4 percentage points YoY.Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 71.87%, medium-sized enterprises 56.95%, and small enterprises 67.38%.
In August, the enamelled wire industry remained in the traditional off-season for demand, while copper price centers continued to climb, with prices once breaking through 110,000 yuan/mt. Downstream purchase willingness cooled noticeably, and the combination of weak off-season demand and high-priced raw materials led to a larger-than-expected pullback in the industry's operating rate. Meanwhile, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region was hit by typhoon weather, causing some downstream enterprises to temporarily reduce or halt production, further suppressing actual demand for enamelled wire. Although emerging sectors still provided some rigid demand support, they were insufficient to offset the multiple headwinds from weakening traditional end-users, high copper prices, and disaster weather, resulting in overall weak order performance.
From an inventory perspective, enamelled wire enterprises continued to face certain sales-side pressure, with month-end finished product inventory levels remaining elevated.Data showed that in August, days of finished product inventories at enamelled wire enterprises stood at 12.09 days, up 0.5 days MoM.
SMM expects the comprehensive operating rate of the enamelled wire industry in September to be 67.89%, down 0.06 percentage points MoM and down 0.23 percentage points YoY.In September, enterprise expectations within the industry diverged notably. Some enterprises are optimistic that traditional end-users will gradually enter the peak season, expecting demand to see a modest recovery. However, many enterprises reported that current orders remain weak and maintain a relatively pessimistic outlook on the market ahead. From the current market environment, the industry still harbors multiple concerns about the September trend. On one hand, copper prices remain persistently high, and the home appliance industry, a key downstream sector for enamelled wire, has yet to show clear signs of entering a stronger season, with demand-side uncertainty fueling market worries about the overall strength of recovery in September. On the other hand, September includes the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, which will reduce production hours, and the National Day holiday will arrive at month-end, with copper price movements directly affecting downstream stockpiling sentiment before the holidays. Taking multiple factors into account, the industry's operating rate is expected to edge down slightly.
