Secondary lead smelters operating rates declined amid maintenance

SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) – Operating rates across licensed smelters of secondary lead in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou dropped 0.74 percentage point from the prior week to 49.82% as of April 16 as Anhui Dahua started maintenance on Tuesday April 13 which is likely to last for one month, showed an SMM survey.

Except for sample smelters, Anhui Huaxin, Jiangxi Jinyang, Zhenyu and Fengri suspended production due to environmental inspections. Hebei Songhe, Hubei Jinyang and Jiangxi Qijing halted production for maintenance, and Henan Xincheng Power and Inner Mogolia also stopped production due to low profits. These led to a steep fall in secondary lead output.

Operating rates are expected to rebound next week as Anhui Camel will recover from maintenance and Jiangsu New Chunxing will ramp up production. In addition, smelters mentioned above will return to normal production as environmental inspections come to an end. Secondary lead output is expected to rise on the week as Hubei Jinyang will recover from maintenance.