[SMM Brass Billet Market] According to SMM data, the operating rates of brass billet producers recorded 49% this week, down 0.51 percentage points MoM, indicating the industry's performance remained at a medium-to-low level with no significant improvement in production activity. Inventory showed a divergent pattern of "tight raw materials and stable finished products." The days of raw material inventories at SMM sample companies further declined to 3.77 days, reflecting a relatively low reserve level and highlighting the increasingly tight supply of raw materials. Meanwhile, the days of finished product inventories stabilized at 5.61 days. Affected by the cost pressure of high copper prices, companies generally exhibited low willingness to stockpile finished products, mostly preferring to control inventory size to mitigate price volatility risks.