2026 National Day Holiday Copper Processing Enterprise Shutdown Survey - Wire and Cable [SMM Analysis]

As the National Day holiday approaches, SMM conducted an in-depth survey on holiday production arrangements at 14 major domestic wire and cable enterprises, with a combined sample capacity of 1.444 million mt. Details are as follows:

    Based on holiday data, the average holiday duration for sampled enterprises this year was 2.07 days, flat YoY.However, the total statutory National Day holiday was reduced from 8 days last year to 7 days this year, meaning the relative duration of actual production stoppages and leave arrangements increased. Holiday strategies diverged significantly among enterprises. Large-scale leading wire and cable enterprises mostly chose to continue production or implement minor production cuts to ensure continuity in project delivery. In contrast, small and medium-sized wire and cable factories showed greater production flexibility, with those facing weak orders proactively extending shutdown periods and arranging leave as needed to reduce production and raw material holding costs.

    Regarding pre-holiday raw material stockpiling, constrained by high copper prices and high premiums, wire and cable enterprises showed generally weak willingness to stockpile raw materials. Most factories reduced advance stockpiling and instead made cautious purchases as needed based on order progress, avoiding inventory impairment risks from copper price fluctuations.

    According to SMM, in terms of order performance, weak end-use demand combined with elevated copper prices suppressed downstream purchase willingness. New orders at enterprises were not smoothly connected, and some factories' orders on hand were not enough to support full-capacity production during the holiday. Additionally, rising copper prices drove up raw material costs, causing enterprises to incur losses on some low-priced orders taken earlier, with overall profit margins severely squeezed. Meanwhile, the rise in copper prices pushed up current raw material procurement costs, and many enterprises found previously accepted low-priced orders falling into losses, with industry-wide profit margins continuously compressed. By end-user segment, the power sector was supported by rigid power grid orders, and new energy demand still showed resilience, but overall end-use orders did not see a substantive recovery in the traditional peak season.

    Looking ahead to October, copper prices are expected to remain above 110,000, continuing to suppress downstream purchasing enthusiasm, with many wire and cable enterprises cautious about future demand.The market has concerns about the pace of State Grid and Southern Power Grid copper wire and cable procurement releases in October. Combined with the continuation of weak early demand, "underperform in peak season" will become the mainstream judgment for the October consumer market. However, copper price movements still need to be monitored; if copper prices show room for a pullback, orders are expected to see marginal recovery.