Copper Prices Continue to Decline, Orders Released, Copper Cathode Rod Operating Rate Exceeds Expectations [SMM Copper Downstream Weekly Survey]

This week, the SMM survey covered the production and sales of major domestic medium and large copper rod enterprises. The comprehensive operating rate was 82.8%, up 6.77 percentage points WoW, and 4.18 percentage points higher than expected. (Surveyed enterprises: 21, capacity: 7.83 million mt).

This week, copper prices continued to decline. As copper prices fell, a large number of previously unpriced orders were released, and low-price replenishment consumption increased, leading to a significant increase in overall order volume, especially around the 12th when prices first fell to around 75,000 yuan/mt and the 14th when prices fell to 73,000 yuan/mt. Copper cathode rod shipments also increased WoW, but the increase was limited compared to the order growth.

From the inventory perspective, with the rise in operating rates and increased shipments, the raw material inventory of major domestic copper cathode rod plants increased by 8.77% WoW to 44,050 mt, while the finished product inventories of copper cathode rod enterprises decreased by 11.02% WoW to 54,100 mt. Looking ahead to next week, based on the current production schedule and the decline in finished product inventories, the weekly operating rate of major domestic copper cathode rod enterprises is expected to continue to rise to 85.05% during 11.15-11.21.