According to SMM, the operating rate of copper cathode rod enterprises was 75.06% in March, up 28.8 percentage points MoM, 9.05 percentage points above expectations, and up 5.41 percentage points YoY. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 87.28%, medium-sized enterprises 56.02%, and small enterprises 66.87%.
The operating rate of copper cathode rod enterprises was 75.06% in March, up 28.8 percentage points MoM and up 5.41 percentage points YoY (the operating rate in March last year was 69.65%).
The copper cathode rod market showed an overall positive performance in March. After the Lantern Festival, enterprises across the industry essentially achieved full resumption of work and production. Combined with previously low finished product inventories, market supply was relatively tight. Post-holiday copper prices continued to pull back, effectively boosting procurement demand from downstream sectors such as wire & cable and enamelled wire. Order performance improved significantly, which in turn drove a substantial increase in orders for copper cathode rod enterprises, with some enterprises even temporarily suspending order-taking at one point. Downstream enthusiasm for picking up goods was relatively high, and enterprises maintained high production loads overall to ensure contractual delivery. It is worth noting that the average operating rate of the copper cathode rod industry rebounded to above 80% in March, but was dragged down by production shutdowns at individual sample enterprises due to non-market factors, weighing on the overall industry operating rate.
In March, the days of raw material inventories of copper cathode rod enterprises were 1.79 days, and the days of finished product inventories were 3.14 days.
Copper cathode rod enterprises maintained a relatively high production load, with the days of raw material inventories down 0.84 days MoM. Driven by the concentrated delivery of downstream wire and cable enterprises to State Grid and improving industry orders for enamelled wire, the downstream cargo pick-up pace accelerated significantly, with the days of finished product inventories down 2.72 days MoM.
The Operating Rate of Copper Cathode Rod Enterprises Is Expected to Be 72.13% in April
Looking ahead to April, the operating rate of copper cathode rod producers is expected to decline 2.93 percentage points MoM to 72.13%, up 3.17 percentage points YoY.After copper prices stabilized and rebounded at the end of March, orders from downstream enterprises weakened compared with the previous period. Currently, orders on hand at enterprises are expected to sustain operations through mid-April, and subsequent demand still requires close tracking of copper price trends. However, as April is a traditional peak consumption season, enterprises remain optimistic in their expectations for the overall market in April, and the operating rate is expected to pull back only slightly.
