SMM Primary Lead Smelter Weekly Operating Rate Review (March 22-28, 2025)

This week (March 22, 2025 - March 28, 2025), primary lead smelters in Henan and Yunnan regions implemented slight production cuts, and the operating rate of primary lead in the three provinces dropped by 1.98 percentage points WoW to 62.03%.

This week, a medium to large-scale smelter in Henan underwent partial maintenance and production cuts, which is expected to resume in mid to late April, while another small-scale smelter halted production for maintenance and is expected to resume next week, leading to a decline in the operating rate in the region. Due to the recent surge in antimony and silver prices, the TCs for lead raw materials containing precious and rare metals in Hunan have declined again, resulting in reduced profits for some smelters, and many smelters have not yet resumed full production. A medium to large-scale smelter in Yunnan underwent partial maintenance, leading to a decline in operating rate this week, and is expected to resume in early April. Outside the survey samples of the three provinces, a smelter in Inner Mongolia experienced slight production declines due to fluctuations in raw material grade in March, and a smelter in east China postponed its routine maintenance originally scheduled for April to early May.

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