Lead Concentrates Weekly Brief (August 18, 2025 - August 22, 2025) [SMM Lead Concentrates Weekly Review]

In mid to late August, the TCs for imported lead concentrates showed a downward trend again, with some zinc-lead mines indicating that their lead concentrate sales orders had been scheduled and pre-sold until October. Despite the autumn maintenance at primary lead smelters, the tight supply of lead concentrates did not see significant relief. With substantial by-product and sulphuric acid revenues, lead smelting operations remained at high levels. In Hunan and Yunnan, the days of raw material inventories at some smelters slightly declined, and smelters lowered the TCs for lead concentrates to secure raw material supplies and maintain stable production. However, as some smelters can supplement their lead concentrate needs with other lead-bearing materials, for instance, some integrated zinc-lead smelters stated that when purchasing zinc concentrates, they would prioritize ores with higher lead content, thereby increasing the lead-bearing residues from the zinc smelting process to partially substitute for lead concentrates. Additionally, some smelters, concerned about the potential decline in TCs during the winter off-season, kept summer TC quotes for lead concentrates firm, limiting the adjustment range.
The scarcity of imported lead concentrate supply has not improved, and market circulation pb60TC quotes have shown another downward trend. For low-silver imported lead ore with less than 200 grams/dmt of silver, the actual transaction price has dropped to between -$70 and -$100/dmt; while for medium to high-grade silver-bearing ores with 200-1000 grams/ton of silver, the general quote is below -$100/dmt