This week, the operating rate of brass billet producers fell by 1.8 percentage points MoM to 49%. Compounded by the traditional consumption off-season and tightening international trade conditions, downstream export demand has been constrained, leading to a continuous decline in enterprise orders. Some small enterprises have been forced to suspend production and grant leaves. Additionally, the soaring copper prices have driven up production costs, prompting downstream enterprises to extensively adopt alternative materials such as stainless steel, further compressing the market space for brass billets. Enterprises have also been continuously reducing their inventories. The days of raw material inventories of SMM samples fell by 0.64 days MoM to 4.4 days, while the days of finished product inventories decreased by 0.14 days MoM to 6.66 days. SMM forecasts that, affected by weak demand and high copper prices, the operating rate of brass billets will drop by another 1.15 percentage points next week to 47.85%, and the industry's pressure is unlikely to ease in the short term.