The operating rate of plate and strip production pulled back as scheduled in May, and market expectations are pessimistic for the off-season in June.

According to SMM, the operating rate of copper plate/sheet and strip producers was 70.12% in May 2025, down 3.69 percentage points MoM and up 2.93 percentage points YoY. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 72.44%, that of medium-sized enterprises was 69.23%, and that of small enterprises was 63.43%.

The pullback in the operating rate of copper plate/sheet and strip in May was in line with market expectations. On the one hand, lower copper prices in April attracted a large number of orders, prematurely depleting some demand, resulting in sluggish order growth in May. On the other hand, the continuous fluctuations in Sino-US trade policies disrupted the market rhythm. Downstream enterprises rushed to export in Q1, leading to the premature depletion of consumer demand in Q2. Even if tariff policies were adjusted, the earlier shocks had severely damaged downstream orders. Moreover, with copper prices remaining high, downstream enterprises' willingness to stockpile raw materials significantly decreased. In addition, the Labour Day holiday also had a certain impact on the operating rate.

In terms of inventory, the raw material inventory of copper plate/sheet and strip sample enterprises in May was recorded at 23,550 mt, down slightly by 0.6% MoM. The finished product inventory/output ratio was 14.91%, up by 0.65 percentage points MoM. Finished product inventories were recorded at 26,480 mt, up by 3.6% MoM, and the finished product inventory/output ratio was 16.77%, up by 1.39 percentage points MoM, reflecting certain pressure on the product sales side.

According to SMM, the performance of new orders in the copper plate/sheet and strip industry has been poor recently, with some enterprises experiencing order declines of over 20%. With the arrival of the traditional off-season in June, pessimistic sentiment pervades the market. In terms of end-use demand, orders related to NEVs remained stable, but orders for electronics, PV, home appliances, clothing accessories, and power ports all decreased to varying degrees. Based on this, SMM expects the operating rate of the copper plate/sheet and strip industry to decline by 3.38 percentage points MoM to 66.74% in June, also down by 0.82 percentage points compared to the same period last year.