Weekend copper inventories in major national regions resumed inventory buildup [SMM weekly data]

SMM February 2 News:

Data Review: As of Monday, February 2, SMM's national mainstream copper inventories increased 1.82% WoW.

Specifically, in Shanghai, inventory buildup occurred due to increased arrivals of domestic supplies, coupled with wild swings in copper prices and weak consumption; in Jiangsu, consumption was weak, suppressed by high copper prices, and inventory also increased; Guangdong also showed inventory buildup, mainly due to increased arrivals of domestic supplies.

Looking ahead, on the supply side, imported copper arrivals are expected to increase, while domestic copper arrivals remain stable, making overall circulating supplies more abundant; on the demand side, a significant pullback in copper prices marginally boosted downstream consumption sentiment. According to a survey, the weekly operating rate for copper cathode rod this week is expected to drop to 62.92%, down 6.63 percentage points WoW, mainly due to continuous accumulation of finished product inventories, slowing production pace, and phased production cuts at enterprises. Considering the tug-of-war between sellers and buyers, the current market shows a "supply increment, marginal consumption recovery" pattern, and social inventory buildup this week is expected to narrow.