2024 National Day Holiday Copper Processing Enterprises Holiday Survey - Wire and Cable [SMM Analysis]

With the National Day holiday approaching, most wire and cable companies have completed their holiday and production plans. SMM conducted a survey on the holiday arrangements of some copper wire and cable companies in the industry, and the results are as follows:

(This survey involved 15 wire and cable companies with an annual capacity of 1.1696 million mt.)

According to the survey, holiday arrangements and attitudes towards post-holiday periods vary among companies of different sizes:

Among large enterprises, most choose not to take a holiday or reduce the number of holiday days, mainly because their orders on hand are relatively sufficient, and some orders are urgent for delivery, so the holiday days are reduced compared to previous years. In terms of stocking, most large enterprises prepare at least 7 days of raw materials to cope with the holiday. Regarding post-holiday orders, due to recent significant fluctuations in copper prices, even large enterprises have concerns about post-holiday orders, fearing that continued copper price increases during the holiday will suppress order demand, with only a few companies maintaining a positive attitude.

In small and medium-sized enterprises, only a few involved in high-end export orders have no holiday arrangements due to sufficient orders, with holiday days reduced compared to last year. Most small and medium-sized enterprises differ from this. According to SMM, most small and medium-sized enterprises do not have optimistic expectations for post-holiday demand, believing there is no growth point in orders, and operations will remain at the current low level. Compared to the same period in previous years, current orders for most small and medium-sized enterprises have declined by 10-40% YoY, showing a significant difference from large enterprises.

Overall, recent significant fluctuations in copper prices have had an unexpected impact on enterprise operations, with order performance closely linked to copper prices. One company told SMM that the market psychological price is around 75,000 yuan/mt, and if copper prices exceed this and continue to rise, it will significantly affect customer purchases. Additionally, according to SMM, after entering the fourth quarter, some companies will adjust their sales strategies to meet year-end sales targets by reducing prices to maintain volume, providing support for the October copper wire and cable companies' operating rate.