China’s copper ore, concentrate imports fell 1.2%YoY in January-February

[SMM Copper Wire and Cable Operating Rate] The operating rate of SMM copper wire and cable enterprises was 70.77% this week, up 0.24 percentage points MoM. Overall operating performance was stable, while market performance was relatively mediocre. During the week, the pullback in copper prices suppressed the release of new orders, but enterprises had ample orders on hand and pending delivery, supporting basically stable production. New orders across downstream segments were generally weak, with demand in the home decoration sector particularly mediocre due to rising plastic raw material prices.

[SMM Copper Flash News] Inventory at wire and cable enterprises this week: earlier pullbacks in copper prices drove concentrated restocking by enterprises, and raw material inventory mainly went toward consuming stockpiled materials this week, so raw material inventory fell 2.7% MoM. As for finished product inventories, the pullback in copper prices restrained downstream cargo pick-up, so finished product inventories edged down 2.65% MoM.

[SMM Copper Inventory] Looking ahead to next week, continued fluctuations in copper prices are expected to keep disturbing end-user procurement sentiment, while rising plastic prices will bring cost pressure. However, existing orders will continue to support enterprises’ baseline production schedules, leaving limited downside room for operating rates. SMM expects the operating rate of copper wire and cable to fall 1.54 percentage points MoM to 69.23% next week, down 5.99 percentage points YoY.