SHANGHAI, May 24 (SMM) – Licensed smelters of secondary lead across Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu provinces operated at lower rates in the week to Friday May 24 as environmental restrictions intensified. 

SMM data showed that the operating rates across licensed secondary lead smelters across the three areas averaged 50.4% in the week ended May 24, down 0.9 percentage point from the previous week. 

Slower operation in Henan accounted for the decline. SMM leaned that Henan Jinli suspended half of its production lines on Wednesday May 22 as it failed to procure enough battery scrap, the raw materials for production. 

Operating rates across Henan’s smelters slid 3.7 percentage points this week, to stand at 62.1%, while the average rates in Anhui and Jiangsu limitedly changed at 41.3% and 50%, respectively. 

This week, environmental inspections extended to Guizhou province, and affected secondary lead output of 1,000 mt per day across licensed smelters in the Taijiang industrial park. It remains unclear when the curbs will be lifted.