It is reported that this week (October 9–15, 2026), the combined operating rate of primary lead smelters in the three provinces was 68.17%, down 0.21 percentage points WoW.
Recently, several primary lead smelters remained under maintenance, leading to a slight decline in the weekly operating rate. In mid-October, a large primary lead smelter in central China began equipment rotation maintenance, shifting lead ingot supply recovery expectations to a downward trend. Of the two smelters under maintenance in north China, one has resumed supply, while maintenance at the other is expected to last until late October. In addition, small and medium-sized smelters in south-west China resumed operations after maintenance, offsetting most of the impact of production cuts, so the overall operating rate changed relatively little.
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