SMM February 27: Starting March 1, 2026, the "Secondary Lead Ingot GB/T 21181-2025" (hereinafter referred to as the "new national standard") will replace the "Secondary Lead and Lead Alloy Ingot GB/T 21181-2017" (hereinafter referred to as the "old national standard") and officially come into effect. The new national standard for secondary lead is under the jurisdiction of TC243 (National Technical Committee for Standardization of Nonferrous Metals) and implemented by TC243SC2 (Subcommittee for Heavy Metals of the National Technical Committee for Standardization of Nonferrous Metals), with the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA) as the competent authority. It was formulated and released on August 29, 2025.
New National Standard for Secondary Lead to Take Effect on March 1, 2026
Compared to the old national standard, the new national standard for secondary lead primarily revises the scope, changing "This standard applies to secondary lead and its alloy ingots produced by smelting and processing using lead-containing scrap as raw material, mainly used in batteries, alloys, chemical industry, and other fields" to "This document applies to secondary lead ingots produced by pyrometallurgy using waste lead-acid batteries and recycled lead and lead alloy materials as raw materials, mainly used in lead-acid batteries, alloys, chemical industry, and other fields." It adds three new secondary lead ingot grades: ZSPb99.990, ZSPb99.986, and ZSPb99.983; and relaxes the proportion of trace elements, such as bismuth, which in the three new lead ingot grades is sequentially relaxed to 0.008%, 0.012%, and 0.015%.
Inclusion of Secondary Lead in the Delivery System on the Agenda
Notably, after the release of the new national standard for secondary lead, there has been significant progress in the long-discussed and researched topic of including secondary lead in the lead futures delivery. On January 30, 2026, the Shanghai Futures Exchange issued an announcement soliciting public opinions on the revision of the "Shanghai Futures Exchange Lead Futures Contract" and the "Shanghai Futures Exchange Lead Futures Business Rules." The document mentioned: Since its listing in 2013, the lead futures have operated smoothly with active trading and effective hedging functions. In recent years, as secondary lead has gradually become a major product in the global lead market, to support the green and low-carbon transformation of the non-ferrous metals industry and the development of a circular economy, and to promote the function of lead futures and optimize deliverable resources, based on the national recommended standard GB/T 21181-2025 for secondary lead ingots jointly released by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration, the Shanghai Futures Exchange, after thorough surveys and extensive exchanges with physical enterprises, plans to introduce secondary lead as a substitute delivery brand.
At the same time, the "Shanghai Futures Exchange Lead Futures Contract" will be revised. The contract's deliverable grades will include secondary lead as a substitute, adding the following clause: "Substitutes: Secondary lead ingots, conforming to the national standard GB/T 21181-2025 ZSPb99.986, or conforming to the national standard GB/T 21181-2025 ZSPb99.990."
According to SMM, by the end of 2025, China's secondary lead capacity exceeded 11 million mt, far surpassing that of primary lead; in terms of refined lead production, the output of secondary refined lead accounted for 45% of total production in 2025. Lead is the non-ferrous metal with the highest proportion of recycled material, and its inclusion in the futures delivery system will shift the lead market from a "single pricing model based on primary lead" to a "dual-track pricing model based on both primary and secondary lead," making the futures more reflective of the spot market reality and strengthening the "production-consumption-recovery-recycling" loop.
Updates to the Specifications and Standards of SMM Secondary Refined Lead Prices
According to SMM, with the development and changes in the secondary lead industry, the actual secondary lead produced and used in the market in recent years has already differed significantly from the old national standard. Besides changes in the main element lead content, the content of bismuth (Bi) has also undergone substantial changes. Based on SMM's understanding of major producers and users of secondary lead, the top 3 items by usage share were enterprises using Bi content ≤0.008% (approximately 15%), ≤0.012% (approximately 60%), and ≤0.015% (approximately 25%). Additionally, following SMM's price assessment methodology and after soliciting market suggestions on the specifications for secondary refined lead prices, SMM has defined the specifications for the national and regional prices of secondary refined lead as ZSPb99.983-99.99%, which will be officially implemented as the new national standard starting January 1, 2026, serving as the reference standard for SMM's price quotations.（[SMM Announcement] Announcement on Updates to Secondary Refined Lead Price Standards and Methodology）
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