Latest Update in the China Lead Market

China’s copper cathode output shrank in July as some smelters conducted maintenance to deal with shortage of copper concentrate.

SHFE nonferrous metals, except for copper, cruised higher on Friday August 7, but ferrous metals all declined.

Social inventories of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin shrank 900 mt from a week ago to 36,800 mt as of August 7, showed SMM data. 

Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Hebei provinces averaged 72.1% in the week ended Aug 7, up 2.47 percentage point from the previous week, showed an SMM survey.

China’s primary lead output ended its four-month increases and fell by more than 10,000 mt in July as primary lead smelters, including Yunnan Chihong, Jiangxi Copper, Hunan Shuikoushan and Jingui, undertook routine maintenance. Besides, equipment breakdown across some smelters in Henan, Jiangxi and Yunnan further weighed on July output.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on August 7, 2020

Operating rates across licensed smelters of secondary lead in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou averaged 54.2% in the week ended August 7, down 0.2 percentage point from the previous week, showed an SMM survey. 

Nonferrous metals on the SHFE mostly increased on Friday morning, holding onto overnight gains, and lead surged nearly 2.5%.