Henan lead smelters still in cutback after smog alert degraded

SHANGHAI, Mar 7 (SMM) – Even as environmental warnings let up, lead smelters in Jiyuan of Henan province continued to cut capacity of concentrate processing by 10-20% in the week to Thursday March 7, for the ongoing two political sessions in Beijing, an SMM survey found.  

This had limited impact on local production of refined lead, as most producers purchased crude lead from other areas, SMM learned. 

As air pollution eased, Jiyuan downgraded its smog red alert to the second-level orange alert this week. 

Last week, lead smelters in Henan cut capacity by a maximum 50%, in response to the red alert across Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and nearby areas.