SMM

According to SMM survey, social lead ingot inventory across five major regions in China totalled 67,000 mt as of January 5, down 2,800 mt from Friday December 29 and 600 mt from Monday January 2.
An increasing number of primary lead smelting enterprises in Yunnan, Hunan, Jiangxi and other regions undertook maintenance last week, tightening the supply of lead ingots further. While production restrictions due to the haze in Anhui were lifted, any contribution to supply was limited last week. Meanwhile, downstream companies resumed regular purchases after New Year's Day. Large companies replenished their stocks after the holiday in large quantities. Hence the continued decline in social inventory of lead ingots. This week, secondary lead companies in Anhui will resume normal supply, but the inventory of some producers of delivery brands were depleted last week. It is expected that it will be difficult to replenish the supply to social warehouses early this week. The delivery of the SHFE 2401 lead contract is likely to result in accumulation of social inventories.