High Copper Prices Weigh on Orders and Operations, Short-Term Sluggish Trend Difficult to Reverse [SMM Enamelled Wire Market Weekly Review]

       This week, the enamelled wire industry underperformed expectations, with the operating rate edging up a mere 0.07 percentage points to 78.8%, indicating significantly insufficient recovery momentum. On Thursday, copper prices surged sharply, breaking through 91,000 yuan/mt, which sharply increased cost pressures for downstream enterprises and led to a noticeable contraction in orders—weekly new orders fell by 5.51 percentage points, while purchase willingness remained persistently low. Although recent demand in the enamelled wire industry has shown marginal signs of recovery, the suppressive effect of high copper prices on end-use demand has become prominent, and hindered demand release from downstream users has directly dragged on the industry's operating pace. Inventory side, days of finished product inventories at enterprises rose to 9.02 days this week; affected by slower cargo pick-up pace and weaker order placement willingness downstream, the destocking process encountered obstacles, keeping inventory at relatively high levels and further constraining the industry's short-term operating room. Overall, SMM expects the operating rate for enamelled wire producers to shift from an increase to a decline next week, projected to pull back to 78.27%. Under the significant suppression of high copper prices on overall downstream demand, the industry may return to a sluggish operating phase in the short term.