Primary lead smelters operating rates fell amid new maintenance

SHANGHAI, May 15 (SMM) – Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces averaged 52.3% in the week ended May 15, down 1.1 percentage point from the previous week, showed an SMM survey.

Smelters including Yunnan Mengzi conducted maintenance and this lowered the average operating rate in Yunnan by 4.4 percentage points on the week to 33.6%. 

The average rate in Hunan lost 0.6 percentage point to 45% as Hunan Jinxin cut production targets on tight supply of crude lead. The operating rates in Henan averaged 63.8%, unchanged from the previous week. 

For smelters in other areas, Anhui Tongguan will end maintenance on May 17 and generate output on May 20. Chihong Zinc & Germanium plans for maintenance in June, which is estimated to impact output by 3,000 mt.