SHANGHAI, Feb 28 (SMM) – Operating rates across Chinese lead-acid battery plants continued to increase this week as governments of each province and city urged the orderly resumption of industrial enterprises. 

An SMM survey showed that the average operating rate across lead-acid battery producers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hebei provinces stood at 43.91% in the week ended February 28, up 9.8 percentage points from last week.

More than 80% of lead-acid battery makers in China have restarted operations as of February 28, but the operating rates for those resumed from February 24 mostly stayed below 50% due to manpower shortage. For companies in Guangdong and Zhejiang that have a large number of migrant workers, the operating rates remained around 50% even for the first batch of producers that reopened as early as February 10. 

Some large-scale lead-acid battery plants with local workers accounting for majority of the staff have raised their operating rates to 70%. The gradual return of workers will keep the overall operating rates of lead-acid battery mills in an upward trend till the first half of March.