Lead Concentrates Market Weekly Brief Review (March 30 - April 3, 2026) [SMM Lead Concentrates Weekly Review]

Due to declining operating enthusiasm among lead smelters and the recovery of domestic lead and zinc mine supply, the lead concentrates market in China became slightly looser in April. Additionally, affected by silver prices in the doldrums and unclear expectations, smelters actively negotiated due to lower by-product revenues. It is learned that the tender and bid prices for lead concentrates from some lead-zinc mines have edged up by 30-50 yuan per mt Pb, while a strong wait-and-see sentiment prevails among smelters. Some small-scale smelters in regions such as Hunan and Yunnan have extended their maintenance shutdown periods. Despite the pessimistic short-term sentiment in the precious metals market, the payable coefficients for silver in various silver-bearing lead concentrates have not been adjusted for the time being. Negotiations between mines and smelters mainly focused on increasing TCs. Except for a few silver concentrates (with silver content above 3,000 g/t) whose coefficients were raised in Q1 and are no longer quoted at high prices above 0.97, the silver payable coefficients for other types of silver-bearing lead concentrates have remained stable.