Copper billet operating rates extended seasonal recovery in March, but orders began to weaken towards month-end

SHANGHAI, Apr 13 (SMM) - The average operating rate of copper billet producers stood at 69.96% in March, up 10 percentage points MoM and 8.79 percentage points YoY, SMM survey showed. The month-on-month increase was driven by seasonal recovery and orders received before the Chinese New Year (CNY). The operating rate underperformed the same period in 2021 (70.16%) and 2020 (73.94%), and was more than 10 percentage points lower than pre-pandemic level. The average operating rates of large, medium-sized and small enterprises stood at 74.78%, 64.9%, and 36.16% respectively.

Notes: SMM surveyed 24 producers with a combined capacity of 1.19 million mt.

The seasonal recovery of orders extended into the first half of March. Lower prices and more competitive payment terms enabled the orders of large enterprises to rise noticeably.

However, new orders declined sharply in the second half of the month, and backlog orders were about to run out. Most companies are worried that orders will hardly grow in April and may even drop.