Secondary lead smelters operating rates slipped to 9.9%

SHANGHAI, Feb 21 (SMM) – Operating rates across licensed smelters of secondary lead in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou declined this week, falling 2.7 percentage points from a week earlier to 9.9% in the week ended February 21, showed a SMM survey. 

Shortage of smelting raw materials drove Henan Jinli to suspend its battery scrap disassembling line since last Weekend, which reduced the operating rates in Henan to 0%, compared with a rate of 15.6% last week. 

Guizhou Jinlong smelter resumed some production lines at the start of the week, lifting the average operating rate in Guizhou to 3%. The smelter currently produces over 100 mt of secondary lead per day, but continues to grapple with logistics issues. 

The average operating rates in Jiangsu and Anhui remained unchanged on the week, standing at 33.3% and 0%, respectively.