Commodities
Copper Cathode Rod Industry Faces Continued Pressure as Copper Prices Remain High
The operating rate of copper cathode rod enterprises in July decreased to 67.01%, down 1.7 percentage points from June, according to SMM analysis.
Copper prices continued to rise in July, contributing to a high premium for spot copper cathode and suppressing downstream demand.
As the industry entered its traditional consumption off-season, downstream end-user orders were already weak, further exacerbating the decline in new orders for copper cathode rod enterprises.
In response, many copper cathode rod plants proactively arranged maintenance and production cuts, resulting in a decrease in overall operating levels and output.