EIA Cuts Brent and WTI Oil Price Forecasts for 2023 as Recession Fears, Inflation and Banking Crisis Overshadow OPEC's Production Cuts

Taiwan copper-clad laminate (CCL) maker Ventec International Group (6672.TW) approved on September 17 a NT$1.5 billion (approximately US$47.3 million) expansion budget to lease and upgrade an idle factory in Kunshan, Jiangsu, deploying two automated lines targeting monthly capacity of 500,000 CCL sheets and 2.4 million meters of prepreg. The 20,000 square meter site sits next to the company's existing operations and benefits from existing environmental permits, allowing mass production roughly one year earlier than a greenfield project. Planned spending is about RMB 41.76 million for building upgrades and RMB 246 million for machinery and equipment. The product mix covers M6 high-speed materials ramping up, with M7/M8/M9 grades under qualification with international server and optical-module customers. Ventec reported record August consolidated revenue of NT$810 million, up 133.2% year on year, with the first eight months up 53.6%. The Kunshan plant will complement the company's Thailand facility and serve AI servers, high-speed switches, optical modules and automotive electronics, lifting demand for upstream copper foil and electrolytic copper foil.

This week (Sep 14-Sep 17), the copper scrap market underwent sharp adjustments after copper prices pulled back significantly from last week's high above 112,000 yuan/mt, bottoming out at 108,370 yuan/mt by the weekend. The most-traded SHFE copper contract continued to slide from 108,240 yuan/mt at the start of the week to an intraweek low of 107,320 yuan/mt.

NBS data shows that China's sulphuric acid (100% equivalent) production in August was 7.984 million mt, down 308,000 mt from 7.676 million mt in July, a YoY decline of 15.5%. The cumulative production of sulphuric acid (100% equivalent) in 2026 was 68.141 million mt, a cumulative YoY decline of 4.6%.