Brass Billet Operating Rate Rebounds Slightly, Expected to Continue Weak Recovery Next Week [SMM Brass Billet Market Weekly Review]

       According to SMM statistics, the operating rate of brass billet producers this week was 50.48%, a slight increase of 0.61 percentage points WoW. The rebound was slightly lower than market expectations. In terms of inventory, the raw material inventory of sample enterprises remained at 3.85 days, while finished product inventories stood at 4.55 days. Approaching year-end, most enterprises face capital pressures such as accounts receivable collection, resulting in generally weak stockpiling willingness.

       Looking ahead, the industry is expected to show a "weak recovery" trend. On one hand, copper prices continue to fluctuate at highs, keeping production cost pressure on enterprises relatively high. On the other hand, downstream sectors such as sanitary hardware and plumbing fittings are affected by the slowdown in the pace of real estate completions. This leads to poor price transmission of end-use products, making it difficult for them to keep up with rising raw material costs simultaneously. As a result, dealers and end-user producers generally adopt a wait-and-see attitude, and purchasing behavior becomes more cautious. Overall, SMM expects the operating rate of the brass billet industry to rise only slightly by 0.87 percentage points to 51.34% next week.