Chinese Lead Smelter Resumes Production, Adds 300 mt Daily Output

LME Asian session brief: At opening, LME lead 3M showed a trending upward on, with steady buying interest. Prices opened at $1,927–1,928/t, briefly softened, then rose to an intraday high of $1,941.5/t before consolidating around $1,935/t, resist at higher levels, ending up at increase of $9.50. Overall, sentiment was mildly bullish. Highlights of Western Asian and SEA lead-acid battery market: Lead battery market recently has not yet been impacted by shortage of remelted lead, thanks to the safety net of long-term contracts. Current long-term contracts for 99.985 lead priced at a premium of $80-100 over the LME price. As the shortage of remelted lead is expected to gradually tighten in mid-long term, this will be putting pressure on the profit margins of battery companies.

Three weeks ago until now, the shortage of remelted lead in domestic SEA countries has become significantly more severe. According to SMM’s internal survey, smelters in Malaysia, Vietnam, and India are unable to secure remelted lead to produce refined lead of 99.99% and 99.97%. This tight supply of remelted lead is pushing both domestic and international trading prices of refined lead higher across the mentioned-above regions.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on 14 Apr , 2026