Off-Season Combined With High Copper Prices, Operating Rates Pulled Back WoW This Week [SMM Wire and Cable Market Weekly Review]

This week (July 3–July 9), the SMM operating rate of copper wire and cable enterprises was recorded at 70.85%, down 0.95 percentage points WoW and down 0.67 percentage points YoY. Copper prices consolidated at highs during the week, with elevated raw material costs suppressing downstream purchasing sentiment, leaving overall industry orders sluggish. The sector is currently in the traditional consumption off-season, with end-use demand weak across all categories and the pace of power grid project order releases slowing in tandem. Only orders tied to emerging sectors outside China, such as AI computing and new energy, showed resilience. In terms of inventory, persistently high copper prices led wire and cable enterprises to adopt a more conservative approach to stockpiling, focusing mainly on small-volume purchases to meet rigid demand; raw material inventories fell 2.19% MoM. The combination of off-season demand weakness and elevated copper prices slowed downstream cargo pick-up, pushing finished product inventories up 1.18% MoM. Looking ahead to next week, the dual pressure of the traditional off-season and high copper prices is expected to continue weighing on end-user ordering willingness. SMM forecasts that the copper wire and cable operating rate for the upcoming week (July 10–July 16) will decline by another 1.36 percentage points MoM to 69.49%, and fall 3.41 percentage points YoY.