August 20 Scrap Battery Market Transaction Summary [SMM Daily Review]

SMM August 20 News:

China's waste lead-acid battery market was generally stable today, with limited quotation changes, and only a very few smelters raised their EV battery purchase prices by 50 yuan/mt. The survey showed that more than two-thirds of recyclers thought current prices were stable, and the remainder thought there was still slight upside room, resulting in market sentiment remaining stable with a slight bullish bias. Recently, downstream lead-acid battery consumption improved, but lead ingot purchases remained mainly based on rigid demand; secondary lead was sold at market prices but available cargo was limited. In the near term, lead prices stabilized and rose, secondary lead smelters' losses narrowed, and their operating rate rebounded from below 30% to 35%-37%, but smelters were still suppressed by their own losses, capping upside room for scrap battery purchase prices. At the same time, the shortage of scrap battery supplies did not improve, and available cargo in the market was scarce, providing support to scrap battery prices. In the short term, scrap battery prices are expected to move sideways, with key focus on the rebound progress of secondary lead smelters' operating rates, changes in downstream lead-acid battery enterprises' purchase demand, the degree of store release of scrap batteries, and the actual situation of battery replacement after the traditional peak season arrives.