No Advantage in Secondary Refined Lead Transactions, Few Quotations and Heavy Losses [SMM Weekly Review of Secondary Refined Lead]

Published: May 9, 2025 15:17

SMM May 9 report:

Downstream battery producers were not active in purchasing, leading to difficulties in selling secondary refined lead amid high raw material costs. Loss pressures forced secondary lead smelters to significantly reduce or halt production and refrain from quoting prices for sales. For the secondary refined lead sources quoted during the week, the mainstream tax-inclusive ex-factory prices were at a discount of 50-0 yuan/mt against the SMM 1# lead average price, with some at a premium of 25-50 yuan/mt. As some primary lead sources were also quoted on par with or at a slight discount to the SMM 1# lead average price, secondary refined lead had no competitive edge in transactions, resulting in poor overall trading conditions. As of May 9, 2025, the theoretical comprehensive profit and loss for large-scale secondary lead enterprises was -653 yuan/mt, and for small- and medium-scale secondary lead enterprises, it was -878 yuan/mt.

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