According to reports, as of February 5, the in-factory inventory of primary lead delivery brands was 8,900 mt, a decrease of 19,300 mt WoW.
This week, primary lead smelters in regions such as Yunnan and Hunan entered maintenance or implemented production cuts, leading to a relative contraction in lead ingot supply. Meanwhile, suppliers actively cleared inventory before the new year, with spot market transactions generally occurring at large discounts. Quotations from mainstream producing areas against the SMM #1 lead average price were at discounts of 75-25 yuan/mt ex-works, and the spread between futures and spot prices exceeded 200 yuan/mt. In the latter half of the week, the decline in lead prices accelerated, prompting some downstream enterprises to purchase at lower prices. Combined with suppliers transferring inventory to delivery warehouses, the in-factory inventory of primary lead smelters decreased rapidly, with some factories having no spot cargo available.
