An SMM survey showed that the average operating rate across Chinese galvanising plants fell 6.36 percentage points from a month ago to 93.57% in September. Nearly 31 galvanising plants were investigated, and the sample capacity of the survey stood at 10.8 million mt.

Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces averaged 53.8% in the week ended April 3, up 1.3 percentage points from the prior week, showed an SMM survey.

It has been more than 3 months after China is hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and restrictions on industrial activities and transportation were the harshest in February. During this period, SMM is continuously tracking market recovery on the metals market. Please see our detailed findings for the nonferrous metals sector below. We will keep you posted on the latest happenings via our website www.metal.com and our social media channels on Linkedin and Twitter. Please register for our webinars in March as we continue to connect you with the latest happening in the China ferrous and nonferrous metals market. The next session is happening on Wednesday March 18, 5pm CST, where we present to you a macro update of the resumption of metals industry as China recovers gradually from COVID-19 , with a deep-dive in the ferrous metals markets.

In early February, raw materials shortage due to suspended logistics and disrupted operations at mines weighed on production at silicon mills in Xinjiang, Sichuan, Guizhou and Heilongjiang. This outweighed ramped-up production in Fujian, Guangxi and Chongqing and accounted for the declines in overall operating rates in February.

Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces averaged 46.6% in the week ended February 28, up 2.8 percentage points from the prior week, showed an SMM survey.

Most of major galvanising plants in China have reopened this week, and the operating rates increased sharply from last week.

The average operating rate stood at 12.6% in the week ended February 14, flat from last week, showed an SMM survey

Shibin in Henan, Shuikoushan Jinxin in Hunan and Honghe Zhenxing in Yunnan have decided to delay their resumption

Operating rates across Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan provinces averaged 15.5% in the week ended February 7

This marked a fourth consecutive week of decline in battery maker operations