Copper Price Surge Crushes Demand Amid Inventory Buildup

Copper prices continued to climb during the week of September 4-10, but this had an unexpected effect on demand.

New orders dropped by a significant 5.9 percentage points, and downstream purchase willingness fell to a 'freezing point', according to SMM's Enamelled Wire Market Weekly Review.

The operating rate of enamelled wire industry machines also declined, falling 1.87 percentage points WoW to 67.53%.

This was partly due to the high copper prices suppressing demand release, with finished product inventories increasing to 11.50 days.