SMM, 17 October:

According to SMM research data, the operating rate of scrap copper rod enterprises in September was 57.20%, an increase of 6.28 percentage points over the previous month and an increase of 6.83 percentage points over the same period last year.

In September, the operating rate of scrap copper rod enterprises rebounded sharply month-on-month. At the beginning of the month, copper prices ushered in a brief rally, copper prices rebounded to about 48000 yuan / ton, in the nearly four-month high, domestic scrap copper traders shipments significantly increased. Although the price of copper fell back within the month, it remained above 47000 yuan / ton. High copper prices ease the sentiment of goods sold in the market, and the scrap copper market picked up slightly in September. According to the feedback of scrap copper rod enterprises, the supply of scrap copper to the factory increased obviously during the rise of copper price. At present, the bright copper, copper rice and other high taste domestic scrap copper used in the scrap copper rod industry are not abundant but not out of stock, and the outflow of scrap copper is still mainly disturbed by price factors. In addition, as a result of the rebound in copper prices, the price difference between fine waste and waste has also returned to more than 1,000 yuan. The average price difference between fine waste and waste this month is 1145 yuan / ton, an increase of 328 yuan / ton over the previous month. The price difference between refined copper rod and scrap copper rod is enlarged, the price advantage of scrap copper rod is slightly obvious, and the downstream orders have also increased. The impact of the environmental shutdown on the Northern National Day was mainly in October and had little impact on production in September.

According to the SMM survey, the operating rate of scrap copper rod enterprises in October is expected to be 52.60%, down 4.60 percentage points from the previous month and 8.94 percentage points from the same period last year.

In October, the operating rate of scrap copper rod enterprises declined month-on-month. On the one hand, part of the National Day holiday led to a decline in production, some enterprises in the north, such as Hebei, Henan and Jiangxi, also affected part of the production for a week because of the National Day parade. According to corporate feedback, the north is gradually entering winter, and some areas have also stopped production because of haze weather and environmental protection inspection. On the other hand, after the National Day, the copper price fell to 46500 yuan / ton again, the scrap copper performance was resistant to decline, the price was on the high side, the scrap copper rod quotation was also raised, the scrap copper rod price advantage weakened, and the order returned to light again, which also led to the weakening of the operating rate in October.

(SMM Wei Xue)