SHANGHAI, Jun. 25 (SMM) – An SMM survey of 91 major domestic lead-acid battery producers and seven pole plate processors revealed the following insights:

According to the SMM survey, the average operating rate at major domestic lead-acid battery producers fell by 3.1 percentage points in May, to 62.91%. Poor orders discouraged many producers from maintaining high operating rates.

Operating rates at all three types of battery enterprises were down on a monthly basis, but especially at  ignition lead-acid battery producers, where operating rates were down an average of 4.54% to 56.51% compared with April. Since most domestic lead-acid battery enterprises produce based on sales orders, ignition battery enterprises were not actively producing since orders were down as the low-demand season began in May.

Operating rates at motive and backup battery producers were also negatively affected by lower orders. Motive battery producers have experienced declining orders for several months, with some producers even closing temporarily. These conditions continued into May with no rebound in sight.

Operating rates at backup battery producers, which had maintained stable production earlier in the year, were also down due to lower orders. Battery prices have also been dragged down as investment in energy storage projects was below last year’s level. Although prices of refined lead, a major raw material in battery production, have been down sharply, profits at battery producers were still shrinking due to higher labor and transportation costs.