Post-Holiday Trading of Secondary Refined Lead Remains Subdued, Smelting Profit Margins Temporarily Stabilize [SMM Secondary Refined Lead Weekly Review]

SMM October 10:

There were only two trading days after the National Day & Mid-Autumn Festival holiday this week. Downstream battery producers had not fully digested their pre-holiday stockpiling, and wait-and-see sentiment was strong due to lead prices fluctuating at highs. Ex-factory price offers for secondary refined lead were mainly at discounts of 50-0 yuan/mt against the SMM #1 lead average price. Ex-factory prices excluding tax were around 15,700 yuan/mt. Suppliers generally reported poor purchase willingness from downstream consumers.

Spot trading was basically stagnant during the domestic holiday. Purchase prices for waste lead-acid batteries by secondary lead smelters remained stable and did not increase significantly after the holiday. As secondary lead smelters had not yet resumed production on a large scale, spot lead supply remained relatively tight, and lead prices continued to fluctuate at highs. As of October 10, 2025, the theoretical comprehensive profit/loss for large-scale secondary lead enterprises was -13 yuan/mt, while that for small and medium-sized secondary lead enterprises was -227 yuan/mt (by-product revenues in the model do not include tin and antimony). According to SMM, production resumptions at secondary lead smelters are concentrated in late October. Before lead prices pull back and scrap battery prices see no significant increase, profit margins for secondary lead smelters may stabilize temporarily.

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