The off-season effect deepens, with operating rates of copper billet producers declining for two consecutive weeks [SMM Weekly Review of Copper Billet Market]

       SMM data shows that the operating rate of brass billet enterprises continued to perform weakly this week, declining 0.83% MoM to 51.18%. There was significant divergence among enterprises, with orders for some enterprises continuing to weaken, showing clear characteristics of the off-season. Meanwhile, orders for a small number of enterprises gradually stabilized, but the overall market activity remained flat compared to last week. At the same time, current market demand is weak, and the high-level fluctuation of brass prices has led to chaotic quoting. Enterprises have been forced to compress copper billet prices to boost sales, with little effect. In terms of inventory data, the days of raw material inventories for SMM samples increased 0.79 days MoM to 5.26 days, and the days of finished product inventories increased 0.37 days MoM to 7.11 days, mainly due to slightly looser raw material supply and a slight accumulation of finished product inventories amid declining demand. Looking ahead to next week, given the continued sluggish downstream demand and the intensified wait-and-see sentiment amid high copper prices, SMM expects the weekly operating rate of brass billets to decline further by 0.19% to 50.99%.