Secondary lead smelters operating rates rose to 33.5%, feedstock supply issues capped the rise

SHANGHAI, Mar 27 (SMM) – Operating rates across licensed smelters of secondary lead in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou rose 10.5 percentage points from the prior week to 33.5% in the week ended March 27, showed an SMM survey. The increase, however, was capped due to smelters difficulties in procuring cheap battery scrap.

The operating rate in Anhui climbed 13.7 percentage points on the week to 13.7% as Anhui Huabo restarted production from the beginning of the week, with daily output at about 600 mt.

Henan Yuguang resumed its treatment capacity of battery scrap to normal levels and Henan Jinli maintained operations of a disassembling line. This boosted the average operating rate in Henan by 24.7 percentage points week on week to 42.7%. 

Secondary lead smelters in Guizhou kept running at an average rate of 58.1% this week, 5.2 percentage points higher on the week as Cenxiang smelter prolonged its production time. Smelters in Guizhou may face headwinds to further ramp up production due to difficulties in battery scrap purchases.

The average operating rates in Jiangsu remained unchanged at 33.3% this week.