Copper Prices Suppress Wire and Cable Orders Amid Rising Production Rates
Copper wire and cable production rates rose slightly this week, but copper prices shot up, suppressing new orders. The SMM operating rate of copper wire and cable enterprises came in at 66.51%, up 0.71 percentage points month-over-month and down 3.08 percentage points year-over-year.
Copper prices surged during the week, directly affecting the release of new orders for wire and cable. Downstream enterprises showed a lack of willingness to purchase, relying on earlier orders to maintain basic operations.
The weak demand led to a decrease in raw material inventory by 2.8% month-over-month, as well as finished product inventories decreasing by 1.28% month-over-month. With copper prices remaining high and order sustainability suppressed, SMM predicts that next week's operating rate will continue to fall by 1.32 percentage points month-over-month.