[May 22, 2013] China May operating rate of copper bar firms expected to rebound, SMM Tweet BEIJING, May 22, 2013 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- About 95 percent of copper bar companies in China believe that orders in May will keep flat with April and their operating rate in May is expected to rebound to 72.65 percent thanks to stable demand from electric wire and cable companies, according to a survey by the Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), a leading metal information provider in China. The SMM did not give the number of surveyed copper bar companies. The SMM poll showed that operating rate of copper bar companies in April stood at 71.66 percent, down 8.08 percent year on year and 3.07 percent month on month. Acceleration in grid investment contributed to the rise in business confidence of copper bar companies. In the first four months, China invested 86.6 billion yuan in power grid construction, up 29.64 percent from a year earlier, according to the SMM. Meanwhile, about 5 percent of the companies were bearish about the future copper market and held that orders in May were still weak. In April, downstream electric cable companies bought a large quantity of goods to replenish stocks amid falling copper prices. Part of demand from downstream sectors had been digested in advance, which would affect orders for May. Earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that China yielded 993,000 metric tons (tonnes) of copper products in April, down 5 percent from a month earlier. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, [email protected]) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]