Operating rates across primary lead smelters pick up on week

SHANGHAI, May 10 (SMM) – Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces came in at 59.5% in the week through May 10, up from 59% for the week ended April 26, as Yunnan Chihong ramped up to normal production, SMM data showed on Friday May 10. 

Smelters in Yunnan operated at an average rate of 36.9% this week, up 9.2 percentage points from the week through April 26. 

During the same period, rates across plants in Henan dipped 1.1 percentage points to 76.6% as Henan Yuguang conducted maintenance on a production line. Smelters of Jinli and Wanyang raised their scheduled output for May, SMM leaned. 

Hunan-based Jingui smelter put its production lines of crude lead into maintenance this week. This lowered the average operating rate across smelters in Hunan by 2.5 percentage points, to 45.2%. Refining capacity ran regularly, but a lower supply of crude lead affected output of refined lead. Crude lead is a raw material for producing refined lead.

Hechi Nanfang in Guangxi province will commence maintenance next week, and this is expected to impact the output of primary lead by 5,000-6,000 mt in May.