[High Copper Prices and Wide Monthly Price Spread Constrain Shipments, Insufficient Momentum for Increase in Operating Rate of Copper Cathode Rod] Copper cathode rod: The weekly (5.9-5.15) operating rate of major domestic copper cathode rod enterprises rose to 73.26%, up 7.96 percentage points WoW, 3.93 percentage points lower than expected, and the YoY increase narrowed to 3.6 percentage points.

Today, spot #1 copper cathode in North China was trading at a discount of 20 yuan/mt to a premium of 80 yuan/mt against the front-month contract, with an average premium of 30 yuan/mt, up 440 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The transaction prices ranged from 78,300 yuan/mt to 78,530 yuan/mt, with an average price of 78,415 yuan/mt, up 110 yuan/mt from the previous trading day.

Overnight, LME copper opened at $9,527.5/mt. Prices fluctuated at the beginning of the session, dipping to a low of $9,511.0/mt during the session, before fluctuating upward.

[SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Unexpected Weakening of US Economic Data Suppresses US Dollar Index, Bullish for Copper Prices] On May 15, spot #1 copper cathode against the SHFE 2505 contract was quoted at a discount of 20 yuan/mt to a premium of 60 yuan/mt, with an average quoted premium of 20 yuan/mt, up 45 yuan/mt from the previous trading day. The futures market declined compared to yesterday, with no significant widening of the price spread between futures contracts. The previous day, SHFE copper futures warrants increased by over 20,000 mt to over 50,000 mt...

[Weak US retail data & inventory inflection point suppress copper prices; backwardation faces downward pressure after slight rise in LME copper and SHFE copper] On the macro side, the growth rate of US retail sales slowed down in April and the monthly PPI rate unexpectedly declined, leading to a drop in the US dollar index and pushing up copper prices. Meanwhile, Putin's absence from the Turkey talks postponed the Russia-Ukraine talks to the 16th. Domestically, Li Qiang stated that strengthening the domestic economic cycle is a strategic move to promote steady and long-term economic growth.