Operating rates across primary lead smelters extend gains on week 

SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) – Resumption from holidays continued to expand the operating rates across Chinese primary lead smelters in the week ended Friday March 1. 

Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces increased 0.7 percentage point week on week, and averaged 53.9% in the week through March 1, SMM data showed.

Rates across plants in Henan dipped 1.1 percentage points to 71.1% as Henan Xinling started maintenance, which was scheduled to last for about a month.  

Smelters of Hunan Yuteng and Yinxing concluded maintenance this week, and are expected to generate output next week. This kept operating rate across smelters in Hunan flat at 35.4% this week. 

The Yunnan-based Zhenxing smelter came back online and approached full operation this week. This accounted for an increase of 5.9 percentage points in the operating rate across smelters in Yunnan, which stood at 36.9%.