Operating rates across primary lead smelters rebound on week

SHANGHAI, Feb 22 (SMM) – Resumption from CNY breaks buoyed the overall operating rates across Chinese primary lead smelters this week. 

Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces increased 3.1 percentage points week on week, and averaged 53.2% in the week through February 22, SMM data showed.

Rates across plants in Henan rose 1.1 percentage points to 72.2% as local primary smelters returned from holiday and started to generate output. SMM learned that Henan Xinling planned to undertake maintenance by the end of next week. 

Smelters of Hunan Jinwang restarted production this week, and Hunan Shuikoushan Zhihui recovered on February 19. These lifted the average operating rate across primary lead smelters in Hunan by 2.7 percentage points, to 35.4%. 

The Yunnan-based Mengzi and Honghe Zhenxing smelters also came back online this week. This accounted for an increase of 8.9 percentage points in the operating rate across smelters in Yunnan, which stood at 31%.