Secondary lead smelters operating rates rose slightly on week

SHANGHAI, Sep 11 (SMM) – Operating rates across licensed smelters of secondary lead in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou averaged 59% in the week ended September 11, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous week, showed an SMM survey. Secondary lead capacity in Anhui rose from 1.04 million mt to 1.16 million mt in September after Anhui Dahua completed technology upgrading, lifting the total capacity in the four provinces from 3.16 million mt to 3.28 million mt.

The average operating rates in Anhui and Jiangsu remained unchanged at 50% and 66.7% respectively, while that in Henan lost 4.4 percentage points on the week to 74.1% as Henan Jinli reduced output as it was difficult to purchase standard battery scrap after the new solid waste law was implemented.

The average operating rate in Guizhou gained 8.5 percentage points to 52.7% as Guizhou Sanhe and Yongxin resumed production after environmental inspections.