April 10 quotation of scrap copper in Tianjin area

In April, the copper plate/sheet and strip industry continued its high prosperity, with the operating rate rising to a four-year peak for the same period and strong production momentum. On one hand, market demand was released in a concentrated manner in March, with enterprises taking significantly higher volumes of orders, resulting in ample orders on hand awaiting delivery and sufficient order visibility, effectively supporting enterprises in maintaining a high production schedule pace in April. On the other hand, overall end-use demand continued its positive trend, with order intake from core downstream sectors such as power, new energy, and electronics remaining generally stable. In particular, end-use demand from semiconductor lead frames, NEVs, energy storage, and power transformers r

According to SMM, the operating rate of the copper plate/sheet and strip industry in April 2026 was 77.95%, up 0.7 percentage points MoM and up 4.14 percentage points YoY. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 87.48%, medium-sized enterprises 62.39%, and small enterprises 66.66%.

In April, affected by multiple factors including declining end-user home appliance demand, prior concentrated orders having front-loaded subsequent procurement needs, and high copper prices being under pressure, the enamelled wire industry's operating rate fell both YoY and MoM. With continued decline in home appliance end-user demand, compounded by production disruptions during the Labour Day holiday and the approaching off-season, SMM expects the enamelled wire industry's operating rate in May to pull back by 3.27 percentage points MoM and 0.21 percentage points YoY.