Secondary lead smelters operating rates increased as smelters stepped up production

SHANGHAI, Apr 9 (SMM) – Operating rates across licensed smelters of secondary lead in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou gained 1.88 percentage points from the prior week to 55.27% as of April 9 as Jiangsu New Chunxing ramped up production, showed an SMM survey.

Except for sample smelters, Guangdong Xinyu and Hebei Chengtai and Shichang also raised production, Jiangxi Jinyang and Fengri recovered from maintenance, Inner Mongolia Taiding restarted production after environmental restrictions, and Tianjin Dongbang started to yield output. These offset output decline at Jiangxi Zhenyu and Shanxi Yichen.

If environmental restrictions do not strengthen next week, secondary lead output will rise further as Jiangsu New Chunxing, Guangdong Xinyu and Hebei Chengtai will continue to step up production.