C&D Inc. Xiangguang Nonferrous Qingdao Copper Concentrates Blending Project Officially Commences Production

[SMM Copper Cathode Rod Flash] Inventory showed raw material restocking and finished product destocking. This week, copper prices pulled back, triggering restocking by enterprises for rigid demand, with raw material inventories up WoW; downstream cargo pick-up was active, and finished product inventories fell WoW.

[SMM Copper Cathode Rod Flash] The operating rate of major copper cathode rod enterprises in China rebounded by 29.59 percentage points WoW this week. Production gradually returned to normal after the holiday, and with finished product inventories previously at low levels, enterprises restocked intensively, driving a rapid rebound in operating rates. Production pace in end-use industries such as wire & cable and enamelled wire also returned to normal simultaneously, with operating rates rebounding to varying degrees.

SMM, October 16: According to foreign media reports, on October 15, Kostas Bintas, global head of metals and minerals at Swiss commodity trader Mercuria, said at the Financial Times Metals and Mining Summit in London that 12,000 mt of copper from the DRC had entered Project Vault, the US critical minerals reserve program, this week as the first trial shipment. Bintas said the DRC has committed to supplying at least 100,000 mt of copper to the US through a joint venture between state-owned miner Gécamines and Mercuria, and this delivery is part of that supply arrangement, with the copper cargo now in the US strategic reserve system. Project Vault was launched in February 2026 with a planned size of about $12 billion, consisting of a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and about $2 billion in private funding, aimed at building an emergency reserve of critical minerals for US civilian industries and mitigating supply disruption risks. Mercuria previously announced in September a commitment of $500 million to the program.