Primary lead smelters operating rates fell to 54.1% this week

SHANGHAI, Jan 15 (SMM) — Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces lost 3.6 percentage points from the previous week to 54.1% in the week ended January 15, showed an SMM survey.

The average operating rate dropped 7.1 percentage points to 63.7% in Henan as Henan Minshan completely suspended production for maintenance. Henan Shibin is expected to resume production next week.

The average operating rates remained unchanged at 51.1% and 35.2% in Hunan and Yunnan respectively.

Although transportation of raw materials and finished products was affected in Yunnan and Henan due to COVID-induced restrictions, it had little impact on production.