SHANGHAI, Nov. 22 (SMM) – Secondary lead producers in China Hebei’s Baoding were ordered to close for a month from November 14 to help ease smog in Beijing, Shanghai Metals Market has learned.

The closures are expected to cause notable impact on supplies of secondary lead and the metal alloys, SMM’s lead analyst Zhu Rongong said in a report today.

Baoding city, which is one of China’s top production regions for secondary lead, houses major producers including Gang’an Nonferrous Metals Co. and Anjian Group, as well as hundreds of small workshops, according to Zhu.

Some of the small, local lead-acid battery makers were also ordered to shut or cut production for environmental protection, whereas big ones such as Fengfan Co. and Shuangfan Storage Battery Co. were unaffected.

Beijing suffered the worst smog in a decade this winter, triggering heightened environmental protection drive by Chinese government. To read all SMM’s reports regarding its impact on China’s metals and steel industry, please click on the tag below: China environmental drive.