Operating Rates of Copper Wire and Cable Producers Declined MoM, High Copper Prices and Holidays Suppressed Demand [SMM Wire and Cable Market Weekly Review]

      This week (December 26-January 1), the SMM copper wire and cable enterprise operating rate was 58.95%, down 1.8 percentage points WoW and down 18.95 percentage points YoY. Copper prices hitting new highs during the week significantly suppressed downstream market purchase willingness, and new orders remained persistently weak; coupled with the approaching New Year's Day holiday, most wire and cable enterprises, as the prices of previously signed orders on hand were continuously inverted compared to current copper prices, generally believed that operating would mean facing losses, thus proactively choosing holiday shutdowns to reduce risk, further suppressing the industry's operating rate. By sector, demand across various fields showed no significant improvement yet, affected by the approaching year-end and high copper prices. Inventory side, copper prices saw a noticeable correction during the week, prompting many enterprises to conduct just-needed restocking; the raw material inventory/output ratio increased by 1.45 percentage points this week. Finished product inventories side, downstream cargo pick-up speed remained relatively slow, but affected by production cuts at wire and cable enterprises, finished product inventories achieved slight destocking, with the finished product inventory/output ratio decreasing by 0.47 percentage points. Looking ahead to next week, many enterprises have scheduled 2-3 days off for the New Year's Day holiday, and coupled with strong downstream wait-and-see willingness after the holiday, a rebound in the industry operating rate is difficult. Therefore, SMM expects the copper wire and cable operating rate to fall by 2.07 percentage points to 56.88% next week (January 2-January 8).