Copper prices experienced wild swings this week, with a cumulative decline of over 400 yuan/mt. During the period, news of delayed production resumptions at an Indonesian copper mine triggered a single-day surge of 1,630 yuan/mt, which quickly pulled back. The wild swings dominated overall sentiment across the secondary copper industry chain

In April 2026, the secondary copper rod operating rate was 12.79%, higher than the expected 11.93%, down 1.46 percentage points MoM and 21.1 percentage points YoY. Looking back at the entire month of April, the secondary copper rod market, under the prevailing theme of copper prices fluctuating upward, was mired in structural contradictions triggered by industrial policies,...

The copper scrap market this week operated under the impetus of a strong macro-driven rally in copper prices. Futures and spot prices rose in tandem, but the intensifying divergence in sentiment and behavior between upstream and downstream participants along the industry chain lent the market a complex character best described as "price-driven transactions amid an unchanged weak supply-demand landscape.

[SMM Analysis: Weakened Demand from Smelting Sector Leads Secondary Copper Rod Enterprises to Resume Production of Secondary Copper Rod] According to SMM's survey data, the operating rate of secondary copper rod production was 27.31% this week, up 3.19 percentage points WoW and down 15.13 percentage points YoY. Meanwhile, the average price difference between copper cathode rod and secondary copper rod was 1,042 yuan/mt this week, narrowing by 132 yuan/mt MoM. In addition, the average discount of secondary copper rod against copper futures in Jiangxi was 568 yuan/mt, expanding by 32 yuan/mt MoM. Based on SMM's calculation of the gross profit model for secondary copper rod sales, the gross profit for the week was -467 yuan/mt, narrowing by 101 yuan/mt MoM...