Primary lead smelters operating rates edged higher on week

SHANGHAI, Mar 20 (SMM) – Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces averaged 51.2% in the week ended March 20, up 1.2 percentage points from the prior week, showed an SMM survey. 

A rise of 5.9 percentage points in the operating rates in Yunnan, to 38%, accounted for the overall increase in operating rates, while the rates in Henan and Hunan remained unchanged at 61.6% and 42%, respectively.

With an easing of the coronavirus impact in China, 70-80% of the Chinese companies have restarted operations. Primary lead smelter Yunnan Gejiu Chuangyuan planned to resume production and other smelters maintained regular operations this week. Hunan Jingui planned to restart work in early April.

This week, smelters tended to hold back cargoes from the market due to the recent plunges in lead prices. This drove up the in-plant inventories of finished products, but overall inventory pressure was not significant.