The average operating rate of primary lead smelters in three provinces was 67.17% this week (October 24, 2025–October 30, 2025), down 0.4 percentage points WoW. Specifically, a small smelter in Henan underwent maintenance shutdown, leading to a slight decrease in production; a smelter in Yunnan that had not yet reached full capacity increased production slightly; while smelters in Hunan showed no significant change in operating conditions compared with the previous week and still did not operate at full capacity. In other regions, a smelter in north China that had been under maintenance but resumed production returned to normal capacity levels this week; a smelter in east China is expected to begin maintenance and reduce production next week, while another plant originally scheduled for shutdown maintenance in Q4 postponed the maintenance to late November.
