The operating rates of copper rod plants using copper scrap were 42.79% between June 10 and June 16, a drop of 3.17 percentage points from a week earlier, according to SMM survey of 15 plants with a capacity of 1.48 million mt/year).
As copper prices continued to rise, new orders continued to weaken, lowering operating rates. The main factor affecting the current operating rates is insufficient demand. The demand for real estate is insufficient. Demand from downstream cable factories is also weak. Some of the copper rod plants using copper scrap saw accumulation of finished product inventory last week.
As of last Friday, copper rod produced with copper scrap in Jiangxi was quoted with a discount of 810 yuan/mt against SHFE front-month copper contract prices. Electric copper rod in east China was quoted with premiums of 1,055 yuan/mt over the contract, with a price spread of 1,865 yuan/mt between copper rod produced with copper cathode and copper rod produced with copper scrap. Orders for copper rod produced with copper scrap continued to decline last week.
