According to SMM, the comprehensive operating rate of the copper plate/sheet and strip industry in September 2026 was 74.53%, up 1.14 percentage points MoM and up 8.50% YoY. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 84.66%, medium-sized enterprises 57.27%, and small enterprises 63.21%, with actual operating performance slightly exceeding prior expectations by 0.98 percentage points.
In September, the off-season for the copper plate/sheet and strip industry gradually faded, end-use demand improved marginally, and operating rates rebounded MoM. Copper prices fluctuated widely around 106,000-112,000 yuan/mt in September, and downstream orders moved in tandem with copper price fluctuations. Notably, when copper prices pulled back to within 108,000 yuan/mt, order releases became evident. From the end-use demand perspective, demand from computing power and energy storage, new energy components, transformers, and integrated circuits continued to improve, providing strong rigid demand support for the copper plate/sheet and strip market. Copper strip and alloy plate/strip both fully benefited, while brass strip was dragged by traditional home appliances, construction, and apparel sectors, with limited improvement.
On the inventory side, SMM data showed that finished product inventory days in the copper plate/sheet and strip industry stood at 5.38 days in September, down 0.11 days MoM, with overall inventory at normal levels.
In October, the National Day holiday disrupted production pace, but new orders in the market performed impressively. Based on early-month observations, most copper plate/sheet and strip enterprises had sufficient order backlogs, showing signs of peak season momentum. SMM expects the comprehensive operating rate of the copper plate/sheet and strip industry in October to be 74.38%, down 0.14 percentage points MoM but up 9.39 percentage points YoY, continuing to stay high.
