SMM Price Outlook for Base Metals on SHFE (Aug. 21, 2017)

[SMM Copper Wire and Cable Weekly Inventory] On weekly copper wire and cable inventory, raw material inventory still mainly declined on consumption this week, so raw material inventory fell 2.84% MoM. As for finished product inventories, with downstream enterprises gradually picking up goods, finished product inventories fell 3.31% MoM.

[SMM Copper Wire and Cable Weekly Operating Rate] This week, the operating rate of SMM copper wire and cable enterprises was 69.95, down 0.81 percentage points MoM. Overall operating performance was stable this week. During the week, copper prices hovered at highs, exacerbating wait-and-see sentiment among downstream enterprises, while new orders remained weak. Enterprises still relied on ample orders on hand to keep production basically stable. By segment, the power sector remained the core support, with orders in NEV and optical fiber performing well, while engineering and construction orders were still hardly optimistic. The operating rate of copper wire and cable enterprises is expected to fall 0.67 percentage points MoM to 69.29 next week