Poor demand drives lead-acid battery producers to cut production

SHANGHAI, Jun 21 (SMM) – Lead-acid battery producers in China slashed production this week, as sales promotion failed to lower their inventories of finished goods, with distributors remaining cautious about procurement in a weak market.

The average operating rate across lead-acid battery producers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Hebei provinces declined 1 percentage point from the previous week to stand at 48% in the week to Friday June 21, showed an SMM survey.

Producers of batteries that power electric bikes accounted for the majority of plants that cut production this week.

In the absence of improvement in consumption, some producers of batteries that are used in automobiles plan to further lower operating rates in July, by some 10 percentage points. A tiny few producers even considered a suspension.