China Refined Lead Output Drops 2.42% MoM in April

SHANGHAI, jUN. 4 (SMM) - NBS reported that China’s refined lead output dropped 2.42% MoM in April to 332,000 mt, and the output through the first four months declined 4.53% to 1.3 million mt.

Output of primary lead slipped 0.85% on the month to 238,700 mt. SMM survey indicates a 4.01-percentage-point slide in operating rate at primary lead smelters in April mainly caused by maintenance operations.

Primary lead output in Henan, Hunan and Jiangxi was 119,000 mt, 85,000 mt and 17,000 mt, respectively, up 0.62%, 7.33% and 14.9% on the month. Yunnan witnessed a 23.75% decline in output to 20,000 mt in April, because, Zhenxing Lead and Chihong Zn & Ge halted production. Henan’s Yuguang Gold & Lead, Jinli Gold & Lead and Shibin Lead conducted maintenance in April, but Zhicheng Lead and Xinling Smelting restarted operations. In Hunan, Zhantai Nonferrous Metals reopened and Jingui Silver’s production recovered slightly. Jiangxi Copper’s lead facility was running normally in April, but Jiangxi’s Jinde Lead conducted maintenance. Maintenance of Guangxi’s Chengyuan Nonferrous, Nanfang Nonferrous, and Shaanxi’s Hanzhong Zinc and Dongling Nonferrous led to a 60% fall in combined output in the two regions.

Output of non-primary lead fell by 6.23% MoM in April to 93,200 mt. Secondary lead output in Jiangsu increased 62% to 16,000 mt and that in Hubei dropped 47% to 16,000 mt. SMM survey shows the average operating rate at major secondary lead smelters grew 6.39 percentage points to 40.83% in April.