SHANGHAI, Feb 27 (SMM) – The operating rates of copper rod plants using copper scrap were 60.32% between February 18 and February 24, a drop of 6.07 percentage points from a week earlier, according to SMM survey of 15 plants with a capacity of 1.48 million mt/year).
The main cause of the decline in the operating rate is slow recovery of end-user consumption. Most downstream wire and cable factories reported few new orders, especially small and medium-sized wire and cable factories. Downstream purchasing interest weakened as the absolute copper prices stood at the highest level since after CNY holidays. Most of the copper rod plants using copper scrap also refrained from purchasing against higher copper prices and poor orders.
![High copper prices suppress downstream purchasing; operating rate and new orders continue to decline [SMM Enamelled Wire Market Weekly Review]](https://imgqn.smm.cn/usercenter/mPNrH20251217171709.jpg)
