This week, the SMM survey covered the production and sales of major medium and large domestic copper rod makers. The overall operating rate was 60.43%, up 4.55 percentage points WoW, down 24.49 percentage points from before the National Day, and 2.77 percentage points lower than expected. (Surveyed enterprises: 21, capacity: 7.83 million mt).
During the National Day, the operating rates of major domestic copper cathode rod enterprises declined as expected. The weekly rate (Sep 27-Oct 3) dropped to 55.88%, and in the first week after the holiday (Oct 4-Oct 10), it rose to 60.43% WoW. However, due to the holiday impact in the first half of the week, both during and after the National Day, downstream shipments were generally lower than expected. This week's operating rate still did not reach normal levels and was 2.77 percentage points below expectations.
On the consumption side, after the holiday, with copper prices dropping significantly, orders for copper cathode rods varied. A few enterprises reported a noticeable recovery in orders during the price drop, mainly from customers with insufficient pre-holiday stocking, who restocked out of necessity after the holiday. However, most enterprises indicated that despite the significant drop in copper prices, the price remained high, and the ongoing decline led to increased wait-and-see sentiment among many downstream enterprises, suppressing new orders.
From the inventory perspective, after the holiday, both raw material and finished product inventories continued to decline. This week, the raw material inventory of major domestic copper cathode rod plants fell by 14.93% WoW to 34,200 mt, and finished product inventory fell by 7.36% WoW to 57,900 mt. As orders slowly recover, finished product inventories are gradually being consumed, and the operating rate is expected to rise to 77.35% next week (Oct 11-Oct 17).
