SHANGHAI, Feb 15 (SMM) – Maintenance during the Chinese New Year break extended the decline in the operating rates across Chinese primary lead smelters this week. 

Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces declined 7.7 percentage points from the last week before CNY, and averaged 50.1% in the week through February 15, SMM data showed.

Rates across plants in Henan dipped 4.3 percentage points to 71.1% as Henan Shibin smelter closed for maintenance. The plant is expected to resume after February 20. 

Smelters of Hunan Yinxing conducted maintenance during CNY. Holiday closures at Hunan Jinwang, and Shuikoushan Zhihui also affected production. These lowered the average operating rate across primary lead smelters in Hunan by 14.8 percentage points, to 32.7%. Hunan Jinwang resumed production on February 15, while Shuikoushan Zhihui will recover after February 19. 

The Yunnan-based Mengzi smelter suspended for CNY and came back online this week. This accounted for a drop of 5.5 percentage points in the operating rate across smelters in Yunan, which stood at 22.2%. The Mengzi smelter will start to generate output next week.