SHANGHAI, Sep 20 (SMM) – The average operating rate across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces dipped 0.3 percentage point from the previous week, to 58.3% in the week ending September 20, showed an SMM survey.

The rates for Henan and Hunan remained unchanged at 78.5% and 43.3%, respectively.

Yunnan saw the operating rate declining 1.5 percentage points from the week ending September 12 to 28.8%, as Zhenxing smelter cleaned its electrolytic cells. Zhenxing will recover next week, and Yunnan Mengzi plans to end its maintenance on September 26.

Haicheng smelter in Liaoning province on Wednesday September 18 began its maintenance, which is expected to impact daily output by 260-270 mt.