SHANGHAI, Jul 6 (SMM) – As a major producer raised production, the operating rate at copper rod producers across China rose 0.64 percentage point from May and came in at 81.06% in June, SMM research found.

The rate was 8.1 percentage points higher from the same period last year.

Consumption of copper rods weakened on the month in June.

SMM expects the operating rate to lose 0.19 percentage point to 80.87% in July.