This week, the overall processing fees for domestic lead concentrates remained stable, but there was still a difference in quoted prices between the northern and southern regions. Despite the maintenance carried out by primary lead smelters in autumn, the supply tightness of lead concentrates has not been significantly alleviated. However, as smelters can supplement their demand for lead concentrates with other lead-containing raw materials, the overall impact has been limited. For example, some smelters operating jointly in lead and zinc production have stated that when purchasing zinc concentrates, they prioritize ores with higher lead content to increase the lead slag residue generated during the zinc smelting process, thereby partially substituting for the use of lead concentrates.
In the imported lead concentrate market, there was a trend of further price declines this week. For low-silver imported lead ores with silver content below 200 g/dmt, the actual transaction prices have dropped to between -$70 and -$100 per dmt. For medium- to high-grade silver-bearing ores with silver content in the range of 200-1,000 g/mt, the quoted prices are generally below -$100 per dmt. Given this, domestic smelters have a low intention to purchase imported lead concentrates and prefer to source domestic resources or other types of lead-containing materials. Regarding the payable indicators for silver, a few lead-zinc mines with low silver and lead grades that did not adjust their indicators in the first half of the year have slightly increased the payable indicators for low-silver lead ores, but the payable indicators for silver in most mainstream lead concentrates remain unchanged. Considering the scarcity of silver-lead ore resources and expectations for future increases in precious metal prices, it is anticipated that even if the payable indicators for silver are adjusted upwards, it will be difficult to see a reversal in the short term.
