SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Overnight, LME copper opened at $13,181.5/mt, fluctuated downward in early trading to touch a low of $13,139.5/mt, then the price center moved up steadily to reach a high of $13,305/mt near the end of the session, ultimately closing at $13,296/mt, up 1.31%, with trading volume at 25,300 lots and open interest at 289,300 lots, down 2,580 lots from the previous trading day, indicating bears reducing positions. Overnight, the most-traded SHFE copper 2605 contract opened at and touched a low of 101,580 yuan/mt, then the price center surged upward to probe 102,220 yuan/mt, before moving sideways to ultimately close at 102,150 yuan/mt, up 1.44%, with trading volume at 42,000 lots and open interest at 165,300 lots, down 2,780 lots from the previous trading day, indicating bears reducing positions.

SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Overnight, LME copper opened at $12,865/mt, dipping to $12,859/mt early in the session. The price center then gradually shifted upward in a volatile manner, touching a high of $13,133/mt near the end of the session, and ultimately closed at $13,123.5/mt, up 2.07%, with trading volume at 27,000 lots and open interest at 292,000 lots, down 1,540 lots from the previous trading day, indicating bears reducing positions. Overnight, the most-traded SHFE copper 2605 contract opened at 99,760 yuan/mt, touching a low of 99,520 yuan/mt early in the session. Copper prices then gradually shifted upward, reaching 100,940 yuan/mt, before moving sideways and ultimately closing at 100,820 yuan/mt, up 1.67%, with trading volume at 50,000 lots and open interest at 170,000 lots, down 1,518 lots from the previous trading day, indicating bears reducing positions.

SMM April 13 News: Data Brief: As of Monday, April 13, SMM copper inventories across major regions nationwide decreased 12.52% WoW from last Monday, marking five consecutive weeks of destocking. Specifically, in Shanghai, imported copper arrivals remained stable while domestic arrivals decreased somewhat; downstream buyers mainly made just-in-time procurement, and inventory destocked steadily. In Jiangsu, domestic arrivals declined, but the pace of warehouse withdrawals also slowed down simultaneously, with regional inventory basically stable. In Guangdong, the prior destocking trend continued, mainly supported by reduced arrivals and robust end-use consumption, with inventory continuing to pull back. Outlook: On the supply side, imported copper arrivals were intermittent, the pace of domestic arrivals slowed down, and an overall tight supply pattern is emerging. On the demand side, downstream buyers still mainly made just-in-time procurement, with overall consumption slowing down slightly compared to the previous period. According to survey data, the weekly operating rate of copper cathode rod is expected to decline to 75.58% this week, down 4.39 percentage points WoW. Considering both supply and demand sides, the market has formed a pattern of "tightening supply and phased stabilization of consumption," and social inventory is expected to continue destocking this week.

SMM Morning Meeting Minutes: Last Friday evening, LME copper opened at $12,744/mt, dipping to $12,642/mt early in the session. The price center then fluctuated upward to a high of $12,928/mt before fluctuating downward to finally close at $12,857/mt, up 1.27%, with trading volume at 22,000 lots and open interest at 293,000 lots, down 4,028 lots from the previous trading day, indicating bears reducing positions. Last Friday evening, the most-traded SHFE copper 2605 contract opened at 99,200 yuan/mt, fluctuated upward early in the session to reach 99,750 yuan/mt, then the price center gradually shifted lower to a low of 99,090 yuan/mt, followed by wild swings before finally closing at 99,310 yuan/mt, up 1.04%, with trading volume at 45,000 lots and open interest at 171,700 lots, down 2,724 lots from the previous trading day, indicating bears reducing positions.

According to SMM, the operating rate of copper cathode rod enterprises was 75.06% in March, up 28.8 percentage points MoM, 9.05 percentage points above expectations, and up 5.41 percentage points YoY. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 87.28%, medium-sized enterprises 56.02%, and small enterprises 66.87%. The operating rate of copper cathode rod enterprises was 75.06% in March, up 28.8 percentage points MoM and up 5.41 percentage points YoY (the operating rate in March last year was 69.65%). The copper cathode rod market showed an overall positive performance in March. After the Lantern Festival, enterprises across the industry essentially achieved full resumption of work and production. Combined with previously low finished product inventories, market supply was relatively tight. Post-holiday copper prices continued to pull back, effectively boosting procurement demand from downstream sectors such as wire & cable and enamelled wire. Order performance improved significantly, which in turn drove a substantial increase in orders for copper cathode rod enterprises, with some enterprises even temporarily suspending order-taking at one point. Downstream enthusiasm for picking up goods was relatively high, and enterprises maintained high production loads overall to ensure contractual delivery. It is worth noting that the average operating rate of the copper cathode rod industry rebounded to above 80% in March, but was dragged down by production shutdowns at individual sample enterprises due to non-market factors, weighing on the overall industry operating rate. In March, the days of raw material inventories of copper cathode rod enterprises were 1.79 days, and the days of finished product inventories were 3.14 days. Copper cathode rod enterprises maintained a relatively high production load, with the days of raw material inventories down 0.84 days MoM. Driven by the concentrated delivery of downstream wire and cable enterprises to State Grid and improving industry orders for enamelled wire, the downstream cargo pick-up pace accelerated significantly, with the days of finished product inventories down 2.72 days MoM. The Operating Rate of Copper Cathode Rod Enterprises Is Expected to Be 72.13% in April Looking ahead to April, the operating rate of copper cathode rod producers is expected to decline 2.93 percentage points MoM to 72.13%, up 3.17 percentage points YoY. After copper prices stabilized and rebounded at the end of March, orders from downstream enterprises weakened compared with the previous period. Currently, orders on hand at enterprises are expected to sustain operations through mid-April, and subsequent demand still requires close tracking of copper price trends. However, as April is a traditional peak consumption season, enterprises remain optimistic in their expectations for the overall market in April, and the operating rate is expected to pull back only slightly.

【SMM Copper Cathode Rod News Flash】The operating rate of copper cathode rod producers pulled back slightly by 3.61 percentage points WoW to 79.98% this week. The rebound in copper prices led to weakened downstream purchasing, and new orders were mediocre. Enterprises relied on earlier orders for production, but as new order follow-up fell short of expectations, production schedules were cut, and the operating rate pulled back slightly.

SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Overnight, LME copper opened at $12,579.5/mt, touching a low of $12,536.5/mt early in the session. Copper prices then shifted higher, reaching a high of $12,712/mt before ultimately closing at $12,695.5/mt, down 0.27%, with trading volume at 18,000 lots and open interest at 297,000 lots, an increase of 3,404 lots from the previous trading day, mainly driven by bears adding positions. Overnight, the most-traded SHFE copper 2605 contract opened at 98,080 yuan/mt, touching a high of 97,820 yuan/mt early in the session and a low of 97,720 yuan/mt early in the session. Copper prices then shifted higher, reaching a high of 98,260 yuan/mt before ultimately closing at 98,070 yuan/mt, up 0.27%, with trading volume at 22,000 lots and open interest at 174,000 lots, a decrease of 1,255 lots from the previous trading day, mainly driven by bears reducing positions.

【SMM Copper Cathode Rod News Flash】Social inventory of copper cathode in major regions across China continued destocking this week, but the destocking pace slowed down. The rebound in copper prices weighed on downstream consumption, yet maintenance at smelters led to reduced arrivals of domestically produced supplies, which continued to support inventory drawdowns.

SMM Morning Meeting Summary: Overnight, LME copper opened at $12,398/mt, dipped to a low of $12,280/mt early in the session, then the price center rose to test a bottom at $12,755.5/mt, and finally moved sideways to close at $12,705.5/mt, up 3.06%, with trading volume at 28,000 lots and open interest at 294,000 lots, down 357 lots from the previous trading day, mainly driven by bears reducing positions. Overnight, the most-traded SHFE copper 2605 contract opened at 98,080 yuan/mt, touched a high of 98,500 yuan/mt early in the session, then the price center fluctuated lower to test a bottom at 97,890 yuan/mt, and finally closed at 98,330 yuan/mt, up 0.11%, with trading volume at 33,000 lots and open interest at 178,000 lots, down 3,110 lots from the previous trading day, mainly driven by bears reducing positions.

The operating rate of secondary copper rod in March 2026 was 14.25%, below the expected 16.26%, up 6.27 percentage points MoM and down 25.93 percentage points YoY. In March, China's secondary copper rod market struggled under multiple pressures including wild swings in copper prices, deepening industrial fiscal and tax policy reforms, and structural tightness in raw material supply, failing to exhibit the traditional seasonal recovery