Operating rates at primary lead smelters fell to 46.3% as CNY suspension extended

SHANGHAI, Feb 7 (SMM) – Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces averaged 46.3% between February 3-7, down 3.8 percentage points from levels seen January 20-22, the week before the Chinese New Year holiday, showed SMM data.

Smelters such as Shibin in Henan, Shuikoushan Jinxin in Hunan and Honghe Zhenxing in Yunnan have decided to delay their resumption of operations, leading to the decline in operating rates in the first week after the CNY holiday.

The rate for Henan slipped 5 percentage points to 63.2%, and that in Hunan fell 4.3 percentage points to 33%. The operating rate in Yunnan remained unchanged at 22.5% as Honghe Zhenxing were already closed in the week before the holiday.

The SMM survey also showed that inventories of finished goods at Chinese primary lead smelters rose to about 91,000 mt as of February 7, due to logistics constraints.