Wire Cable Enterprises See Lengthened Downtime Amidst High Copper Prices

Shanghai Metals Market recently conducted a survey on the National Day holiday production arrangements of major wire and cable enterprises in China. The results showed that despite the shorter duration of this year's National Day holiday, compared to last year, the actual downtime arranged by enterprises has lengthened.

The surveyed enterprises had an average holiday duration of 2.07 days this year, which is flat Year-over-Year (YoY). However, this year's National Day holiday is 7 days long, while last year featured an 8-day combined National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival break. This indicates that the actual downtime arranged by enterprises has increased in relative terms.

Large wire and cable enterprises with bigger capacity mostly chose to continue production or implement minor production cuts to ensure continuity in project delivery. In contrast, small and medium-sized wire and cable factories showed greater production flexibility, with those having weaker orders proactively extending their downtime to reduce production and raw material holding costs.

The survey also found that due to high copper prices and premiums, wire and cable enterprises showed a weak willingness to stock up on raw materials. Most factories reduced advance stockpiling and instead made cautious purchases as needed based on order progress, to avoid inventory impairment risks from copper price fluctuations.