China Secondary Copper Rod Market Stagnates Amid High Prices and Invoice Issues
The secondary copper rod market in China faced significant constraints this week due to high prices and invoice issues. According to SMM data, the operating rate of secondary copper rod producers stood at 11.99% this week, up 1.72 percentage points WoW but down 6.57 percentage points YoY.
The average price difference between copper cathode rod and secondary copper rod was yuan 2,114/mt, up yuan 1,348/mt WoW. However, the high raw material costs suppressed downstream affordability, while pre-holiday stocking demand was constrained by invoice issues and cautious sentiment among rod producers.
Despite the widening price spread between copper cathode rod and secondary copper rod to above yuan 2,590/mt, actual transactions remained stagnant. Rod producers almost lost purchase willingness due to cost pressure, and even when the price difference reached an excellent yuan 2,590/mt mid-week, they expected copper prices to fall below yuan 110,000/mt before stocking up ahead of the long holiday.
The procurement sentiment index fluctuated slightly in the 1.89-1.97 range but remained low throughout, and the market fell into a consensus wait-and-see stance for 'even lower prices.'