[Weak Demand + High Copper Prices: Operating Rate of Brass Billet Producers Falls to 51.89%]: According to SMM data, the operating rate of brass billet producers fell to 51.89% this week, down 0.64 percentage points MoM. With ongoing weak downstream demand, enterprises have recently lowered copper billet prices to test demand and reduce inventories. However, the price cuts have not significantly stimulated demand, and most enterprises still face inventory backlogs, leading to reduced enthusiasm for raw material procurement. Additionally, with copper prices fluctuating at highs, enterprises are hesitant to stockpile large quantities of raw materials. SMM samples show that days of raw material inventories increased by 0.13 days MoM to 4.83 days, while days of finished product inventories increased by 0.85 days to 6.92 days. Looking ahead to next week, with the arrival of the second week of June, enterprises are generally adopting a wait-and-see attitude. If the tight raw material supply situation eases and copper prices pull back to a certain extent, the operating rate may rebound, but the extent will be limited. SMM expects the operating rate to increase by 0.42 percentage points MoM to 52.3% next week.