Secondary lead smelters operating rates rose as new capacity came online

SHANGHAI, May 15 (SMM) – Operating rates across licensed smelters of secondary lead in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou edged up 2.4 percentage points in the week ended May 15 to 49.4%, as Anhui Dahua smelter has put 200,000 mt/year of new capacity into operations. The rates are based on capacity after the expansion.

The capacity addition lifts the annualised capacity of secondary lead in Anhui to 1.04 million mt, with the total annualised capacity in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou rising to 3.16 million mt, according to SMM survey. The below chart shows the comparison of operating rates based on capacity that includes and excludes the new capacity in Anhui.

The respective operating rates at secondary lead smelters in Guizhou, Jiangsu and Henan remained unchanged this week, standing at 65.1%, 53.3% and 45.5%.

Operating rates averaged 41.5% in Anhui this week, up 9.2 percentage points from the previous week (based on capacity after expansion).

Anhui Dahua smelter commissioned new capacity last weekend, with the daily output rising to the current 400 mt from the preliminary 100-200 mt. It plans to further ramp up production next week.