Chile's Mantoverde Mine Workers Threaten Strike from Dec 29 if Contract Talks Fail

[SMM Brass Billet Express] Copper prices fluctuated at highs in January, putting pressure on raw material procurement, while orders for brass billets contracted in industries such as valves and sanitary hardware due to difficulties in raising prices. Affected by high costs and reduced orders, some small copper billet enterprises began their holidays early from mid-to-late January. Currently, enterprises generally maintain low inventories to mitigate risks, with sample enterprises averaging only 3.95 days of raw material inventory and approximately 6.77 days of finished product inventory, reflecting overall weak stockpiling sentiment.

[SMM Brass Billet News] According to SMM data, the comprehensive operating rate of copper billet producers in January 2026 was 50.86%, down 1.89 percentage points MoM and up 9.17 percentage points YoY. The year-on-year improvement was due to the low base effect from the Chinese New Year holiday during the same period last year. In January, the operating rate of large enterprises was 57.74%, medium-sized enterprises 40.83%, and small enterprises only 32.29% due to greater cost and order pressures.