Last week, an SMM survey covered the production and sales of major domestic medium and large copper rod makers. The overall operating rate was 78.89%, up 18.46 percentage points WoW, and 1.54 percentage points higher than expected (surveyed enterprises: 21, capacity: 7.83 million mt).
Last week, copper prices trended lower, but downstream consumption did not show a significant rebound. Only in the last two days of the week, when copper prices dropped significantly, did consumption improve somewhat. However, overall shipments were still lower-than-expected and below last month's level. Overall consumption last week still lacked end-use support. Some copper cathode rod makers indicated that infrastructure projects in parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang had reduced operations, with only automotive wire orders performing well.
From an inventory perspective, as enterprises resumed work, the raw material inventory of major domestic copper cathode rod plants increased by 7.31% WoW to 36,700 mt last week. Due to the rise in operating rates and lower-than-expected shipments, and some copper cathode rod makers needing to increase reserves due to major overhauls, the finished product inventories of copper cathode rod makers increased by 25.22% WoW to 72,500 mt last week.
Looking ahead, with large enterprises entering maintenance periods, the operating rate is expected to decline to 76.28% this week (Oct 18-24).
