This week, the copper wire and cable industry maintained stable operations, falling into a situation of "struggling to rise, with limited downside" [SMM Wire and Cable Market Weekly Review]

      This week (August 15-21), the SMM copper wire and cable enterprise operating rate was 68.88%, down 0.43 percentage points MoM, and down 24.66 percentage points YoY, 1.28 percentage points higher than expected. The current industry operation remains stable, with no improvement in downstream demand. Most enterprises report that the wire and cable industry has entered a normal off-season range characterized by "struggle to rise, limited downside," without further deterioration. By sector, orders in all areas this week fell short of expectations. The construction industry continued its weak demand, while although the power industry as a whole remained resilient, orders from State Grid this week also underperformed, failing to provide effective support. In terms of inventory, during the week when copper prices retreated, some enterprises did price fixing but did not actually pick up goods, mainly relying on depleting inventories for production. This week, raw material inventory of sample enterprises decreased 0.33% MoM, recording 15,080 mt. Finished product inventories, constrained by downstream funding, saw a slowdown in cargo pick-up, with sample enterprises' finished product inventories increasing 2.12% MoM, recording 19,290 mt. Looking ahead to next week, no new demand breakthroughs have emerged in various industries, coupled with a subdued procurement sentiment at month-end; hence, SMM expects the copper wire and cable operating rate to decline to 66.4% for the week of August 22-28.