Copper Rod Inventories Rise as Prices Fall, Finished Goods Stocks Decline

[SMM Brass Billet Flash] Looking ahead to next week (6.12-6.18), most brass billet enterprises will continue production based on prior orders. Currently, the industry fundamentals—tight raw material supply, elevated costs, and sluggish end-use demand—have yet to show meaningful improvement. SMM expects the industry operating rate to pull back slightly by 0.32 percentage points WoW to 52.27% next week, with operating rates remaining under pressure in the near term.

[SMM Brass Billet Flash] Copper prices declined this week, prompting brass billet enterprises to actively stockpile on dips. However, the supply of secondary brass remained tight and prices stayed high and firm, restricting their restocking room, with raw material inventory only edging up to 3.57 days.

[SMM Brass Billet Flash] During the week (6.05-6.11), the operating rate of the brass billet industry in China was 52.59%, up 0.74 percentage points MoM and up 0.58 percentage points YoY. Copper prices pulled back sharply during the week, which stimulated the moderate release of downstream rigid demand orders and boosted producers' enthusiasm for production, driving a slight rebound in the industry's operating rate.