SHANGHAI, Jun. 18 (SMM) – SMM’s surveys of copper wire rod producers reveal that raw material/output ratio at the surveyed producers was 16.98% in May, up slightly from April.

Market pessimism over copper prices eased. Meanwhile, downstream consumption improved, stimulating some copper rod producers to increase to increase inventories.

According to SMM survey, copper rod producers using scrap copper as raw materials continued to suspend production or keep production volumes low in May. Copper rod producers continued to use only limited amount of scrap copper against scrap copper shortages and large price gap between scrap copper and refined copper.  

SMM predicts that scrap copper consumption will pick up mildly along with narrowing price gap between scrap copper and refined copper in June.