SHANGHAI, Jul 26 (SMM) – Lead-acid battery plants in Yichun city, Jiangxi province are expected to recover their production at the beginning of next month following the end of environmental probes by the local government, SMM believes.

Operations, however, are unlikely to reach full capacity in the short term as worse-than-expected downstream consumption depressed their producing enthusiasm. Even though July-August is the traditional peak season for the lead-acid battery market, actual consumption fell short of expectations. Given that, sources told SMM that they would continue to base production on sales.

All of the environmental issues found during the central government’s reviews have been settled of late. This suggested that the local government probes came to an end and lead-acid battery plants across the region that have passed the inspections are allowed to recover their production.

Earlier this month, the government of Yichun city kicked off its own environmental probes and some lead-acid battery plants had to suspend their production again after a brief recovery from the central government’s probes. The suspension lasted for 20 days as of July 26 with close to 1,000 mt of lead consumption being affected every day.