The operating rates of key copper rod producers using copper cathode averaged 69.33% last week (August 11-17), an increase of 1.22 percentage points from last week. According to the latest SMM survey, orders surged last week due to the drop in copper prices, but the increase was relatively small.
According to feedback from copper rod enterprises, most of the dip buyers were large-scale cable companies last week, who refrained from taking the cargoes. The soaring spot premiums in Shanghai on Thursday sidelined cable factories. Orders at small and medium-scale cable factories were lacklustre. Downstream buyers still have a bearish attitude towards the prices, and are cautious in placing orders. According to SMM data, the price spread between copper rod produced with copper cathode and with copper scrap averaged 651 yuan/mt last week, stripping the price advantage of the latter. That boosted consumption of copper cathode rod.
