SHANGHAI, Apr 8 (SMM) – Primary lead output in China expanded significantly last month, as some large smelters recovered from maintenance and small and medium-sized smelters reopened after the spread of the coronavirus in the country came under control.

China’s output of primary lead increased 11.94% from February to 240,000 mt in March, to produce a year-over-year decline of 7.03%, showed an SMM survey. Output in the first three months of 2020 was 6.13% lower than the same period the year before.

Maintenance at smelters including Hunan Yuteng, Yunnan Zhenxing and Henan Yuguang ended last month and production resumed. Smelters including Western Mining and Inner Mongolia Xing’an Silver & Lead, however, undertook maintenance, which partially offset the increase in overall primary lead production.  

Production of primary lead in China is expected to extend its increase in April, reaching 257,000 mt, as most of smelters maintain normal production and maintenance kicked off in March comes to an end.

Tightening ore supply, however, is likely to affect production of refined metal. Escalated virus containment measures outside China are disrupting ore flows to China, while domestic ore supply is being affected by seasonality. Mines at a high altitude, such as those in Inner Mongolia have yet to resume production.

China treatment charges for lead concentrate fell as a result. SMM assessed TCs for domestic lead concentrate with Pb 50% content at 2,000-2,400 yuan/mt of Pb content for April, down 200 yuan/mt of Pb content from March. TCs for imported materials with Pb 60% content, meanwhile, dropped $20/dmt to $140-160/dmt.