Enamelled Wire: May Operating Rate Pulled Back as Expected, June Sentiment to Weaken Further

Published: Jun 9, 2026 14:31
According to SMM, the comprehensive operating rate of the enamelled wire industry in May was 72.32%, down 3.00 percentage points MoM but up a marginal 0.06 percentage points YoY. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 77.24%, medium-sized enterprises was 59.65%, and small enterprises was 68.78%.
According to SMM, the comprehensive operating rate of the enamelled wire industry in May was 72.32%, down 3.00 percentage points MoM but up a marginal 0.06 percentage points YoY. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 77.24%, medium-sized enterprises was 59.65%, and small enterprises was 68.78%.

In May, due to perturbation by the Labor Day holiday, weak home appliance demand, copper prices fluctuating at highs, and other factors, the operating rate of the enamelled wire industry pulled back MoM. Demand side, structural differentiation continued. Rigid demand from new energy and power sectors operated steadily, forming bottom support for the industry. But the home appliance end remained persistently weak, traditional ends lacked incremental rigid demand, and downstream end-users were highly sensitive to copper prices. Copper price fluctuations suppressed purchase willingness, further dragging down order growth. Furthermore, the holiday compressed effective production days, and enterprises' order production schedules were also disrupted to some extent. Multiple factors jointly constrained capacity release, causing the industry's prosperity to continue weakening.

Inventory side, high copper prices coupled with weak demand made downstream purchases more cautious. The pace of finished product shipments and cargo pick-up was constrained by order and price fluctuations. This month, the industry's days of finished product inventories rose to 11.12 days, and the overall inventory base remained at a relatively high level.

On the inventory side, high copper prices combined with weak demand made downstream purchases more cautious, with finished product shipments and cargo pick-up pace constrained by order and price fluctuations. This month, the industry’s days of finished product inventories rose to 11.12 days, and the overall inventory base remained at a relatively high level.

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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