【High Price Spread Between Futures Contracts Suppresses Stockpiling, Hidden Concerns Linger as Copper Cathode Rod Operating Rate May Fall Short of Expectations for Consecutive Weeks】Copper cathode rod: The weekly (5.2-5.8) operating rate of major domestic copper cathode rod enterprises dropped sharply to 62.79%, down 17.10 percentage points WoW, 6.61 percentage points lower than expected, and up 9.68 percentage points YoY. However, the YoY growth rate has significantly narrowed.

Today, spot prices of #1 copper cathode in North China were at a discount of 400 yuan/mt to 200 yuan/mt against the front-month contract, with an average discount of 300 yuan/mt, a decrease of 200 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The transaction prices ranged from 77,650 yuan/mt to 78,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 77,825 yuan/mt, down 285 yuan/mt from the previous trading day.

["[Codelco's Copper Production Climbs 14.8% in March, Escondida's Copper Production Up 18.9% YoY] On May 8 (Thursday), data released by Chile's National Copper Commission (Cochilco) showed that state-owned miner Codelco's copper production in March increased by 14.8% YoY to 123,200 mt. Cochilco announced that BHP's Escondida mine saw its copper production in March rise by 18.9% YoY to 120,600 mt. (Webstock Inc.)"]

[SMM Analysis:The production output of the top 15 mining enterprises in Q1 has been released, and the supply of copper concentrate is not optimistic ] The copper production of the top 15 mining enterprises in the first quarter of 2025 has been released. According to SMM statistics, the copper production of the top 15 mining enterprises in the first quarter was 2,967 kt, a year-on-year decrease of 0.8% and a month-on-month decrease of 12.8%. However, judging from the production data in the first quarter, the raw material supply this year seems not optimistic.

【Codelco's Copper Production Climbs 14.8% in March, Escondida's Copper Production Up 18.9% YoY】On May 8 (Thursday), data released by Chile's National Copper Commission (Cochilco) showed that state-owned miner Codelco's copper production in March increased by 14.8% year-on-year to 123,200 mt. Cochilco announced that BHP's Escondida mine saw its copper production rise 18.9% YoY to 120,600 mt in March. (Webstock Inc.)