Ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday, trading activity in the spot market was sluggish, and the price spread for primary lead across regions widened [SMM Weekly Review of the Refined Lead Spot Market]

In the spot market this week (February 9, 2026–February 13, 2026), trading activity in the lead spot market continued to weaken. As the final week before the Chinese New Year holiday, downstream enterprises entered a widespread holiday shutdown, traders also successively closed their accounts for inventory checks, and smelters primarily focused on shipments under long-term contracts, inventory clearance, or presales of post-holiday supplies. Due to reduced supply from smelters in Hunan this week, smelters in Hunan, Guangdong, and other regions quoted at a premium of 30-50 yuan/mt and were reluctant to sell, while some traders with moderate supplies sold off at a slight discount for inventory clearance. Suppliers in Henan quoted against the SHFE lead 2603 contract with the discount narrowing slightly to 200-150 yuan/mt. The refined lead market entered the conventional supply-demand mismatch phase before the Chinese New Year holiday, but transactions at high prices were relatively difficult, and downstream purchase intentions declined significantly compared to last week.