Primary lead smelters operating rates fell amid tight supply of crude lead

SHANGHAI, Jul 17 (SMM) – Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces averaged 51.9% in the week ended July 17, down 0.6 percentage point from the previous week, showed an SMM survey. 

The average operating rate for smelters in Henan held unchanged from a week ago at 63.2%, but that for Yunnan lost 2.2 percentage points to 37.3% and that for Hunan edged down 0.5 percentage point to 42.3%.

SMM learned that crude lead supply was relatively tight at some smelters in Hunan and Yunnan, on the backdrop of overall supply tightness of lead concentrate. This pushed some smelters to cut their daily output this week. New capacity at Henan Yuguang will commission next week, with production target at 1,000-1,100 mt/day.