Exclusive: China's secondary lead output fell to 332,800 mt in January

SHANGHAI, Feb 8 (SMM) — SMM data showed that China produced 332,800 mt of secondary lead in February, down 4.36% from December, and up 106.3 % from a year ago. Production capacities of enterprises involved in the survey will stand at 8.58 million mt in total in 2021.

SMM survey showed that the uncertainty of pandemic prevention and control measures made non-local workers hope to return home early due to the spread of the pandemic in China again since January. As a result, the secondary lead refineries in Guangdong, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia and other provinces mostly started the holiday ahead of schedule in late January. Some refineries in Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and other places have started maintenance since mid-to-early January and then took a holiday. However, the regenerated lead profits repaired with the recovery of lead prices boosted the enthusiasm of refineries to expand production. Among them, the newly expanded smelting companies such as Anhui Chaowei and Camel, which were put into operation in December, contributed a substantial increase. At the same time, many refineries in Anhui and Jiangxi were also actively increasing production. The severe situation of the pandemic was difficult to match the enthusiasm of refineries to expand production. China's secondary lead output finally increased from the previous month in January.

In addition, since the CNY holiday last year was at the end of January, most of the secondary lead refineries were closed in January last year, so the secondary lead output in January of this year recorded a significant year-on-year increase.

Most of the secondary lead refineries were shut down for holidays as in previous years in February. A batch of secondary lead refineries is expected to resume production on February 18-21, and a batch will return to work in end February, based on the current pandemic situation in China. It is worth noting that secondary lead smelters generally delayed the resumption of work due to raw material procurement difficulties due to the prevention and control of the pandemic in 2020. The procurement of battery scrap may still be a major factor restricting secondary lead smelting companies from resuming production in February this year. As there are fewer work days in February than other months, it is inevitable that the output of secondary lead companies will decrease. However, at the same time, many secondary lead companies in Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi are still producing normally during the CNY. In particular, many newly expanded refineries in Anhui will release a large amount of secondary lead production capacities to offset part of the reduction. SMM expects China's secondary lead output to decrease over 40,000 mt to 289,200 mt in February.