Weekly lead-acid battery maker operation stable on week

SHANGHAI, Nov 22 (SMM) – Operating rates across lead-acid battery producers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hebei provinces held flat from the prior week and averaged 57.75% in the week ending November 22, showed an SMM survey.

Sales promotion continued in the lead-acid battery market as consumption remained tepid for both electric-bicycle and automobile batteries. 

Distributors of auto batteries mostly took a cautious outlook amid falling lead prices. SMM learned that most distributors had held inventories that could meet sales need for more than a month after them stockpiling cheap cargoes in the previous weeks. 

Producers of e-bike batteries with relatively lower quality offered bigger discounts on concerns about weakening demand. Quotes of 48v20Ah batteries slipped to 420-430 yuan/set, with some as low as 410 yuan/set. 

On-demand purchases by distributors did not put additional inventory pressure at battery producers, who managed to maintain stable operation this week.