The price of secondary refined lead is significantly lower than that of primary lead, with limited decline in raw material prices, and smelters are still operating at a loss [SMM Weekly Review of Secondary Refined Lead]

SMM August 1 News:

During the week, secondary lead suppliers showed low enthusiasm in quoting prices and had poor willingness to sell. In east China and central China, the ex-factory prices of individual manufacturers were at a premium of 0-50 yuan/mt against the SMM #1 lead average price, while the ex-factory prices (excluding tax) were at a discount of 1,000-900 yuan/mt against the SMM #1 lead average price. Clearly, the price of secondary refined lead was inverted compared to that of primary lead, and downstream spot orders tended to be purchased from the primary market. SMM expects that the willingness to sell secondary lead will remain difficult to improve next week, and the price inversion phenomenon may persist. After lead prices fell for several consecutive days, the price of raw material scrap batteries also declined. Today, the purchase prices of waste lead-acid batteries by smelters fell by 30-100 yuan/mt, but the decline was still less than that of lead prices. As of August 1, 2025, the theoretical comprehensive profit and loss value of large-scale secondary lead enterprises was -555 yuan/mt, while that of small and medium-sized secondary lead enterprises was -777 yuan/mt.

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