Since April, the operating rate has declined by about 30 percentage points due to tight raw material supply, high costs, weak end-use consumption, and poor lead ingot sales. The low scrap volume of waste lead-acid batteries has led to scarce market supply and significant pressure on recyclers. Secondary lead smelters face tight scrap battery arrivals, low raw material inventories, and high purchase offers. Intense competition for raw materials and customer-specific price increases have further complicated the situation. Lead prices remained sideways during the week, with downstream battery producers showing a strong wait-and-see sentiment. Secondary lead smelters had low willingness to sell due to cost pressure, and the spot market for secondary refined lead was sluggish. As of May 16, the theoretical profit and loss value for large-scale secondary lead enterprises was -592 yuan/mt, and -820 yuan/mt for small- and medium-sized enterprises.