According to SMM, the overall operating rate of copper plate/sheet and strip enterprises in September 2025 was 66.02%. Although it increased slightly by 0.15 percentage points MoM from August, it decreased significantly by 6.37 percentage points YoY compared to the same period last year, with the peak season performance falling short of market expectations. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 70.51%, that of medium-sized enterprises was 59.51%, and that of small enterprises was 62.3%.

[SMM Shanghai Spot Copper] Tomorrow, downstream stockpiling sentiment is expected to increase. Copper prices are currently fluctuating around 85,000 yuan/mt, and buying interest is unlikely to rise significantly. Spot copper transactions on the SHFE are expected to remain flat compared with today.

Spot #1 copper cathode in North China today was at a discount of 180-120 yuan/mt against the front-month contract, with an average discount of 150 yuan/mt, unchanged from the previous trading day. Transaction prices ranged from 84,720-85,210 yuan/mt, with an average of 85,005 yuan/mt, down 40 yuan/mt from the previous trading day.

SMM Morning Meeting Minutes: LME copper opened at $10,681/mt overnight, initially touching a high of $10,715/mt before copper prices trended downward, hitting a low of $10,532.5/mt near the session close, and finally settled at $10,576/mt, down 0.21%, with trading volume reaching 16,000 lots and open interest at 320,000 lots. The most-traded SHFE copper contract 2511 opened at 85,240 yuan/mt overnight, touched a low of 84,960 yuan/mt at opening, then reached a high of 85,400 yuan/mt. After showing a "W" pattern early in the session, it maintained a sideways trend and finally settled at 85,160 yuan/mt, up 0.24%, with trading volume at 35,000 lots and open interest at 170,000 lots.