SMM September 12:
Following the conclusion of the SCO summit and military parade, waste recycling operations in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region returned to normal this week. However, due to the still limited volume of retired batteries in the market, local smelters reported relatively small changes in raw material arrivals. Additionally, a significant number of secondary lead smelters nationwide are currently idled, while operating enterprises generally maintain low production rates, resulting in relatively weak demand for waste lead-acid batteries. Consequently, waste battery prices have declined noticeably, and recyclers' purchasing enthusiasm remains low.
The mainstream tax-included purchase price for waste e-bike lead-acid battery scrap from smelters fell to around 9,950 yuan/mt. Lower raw material costs combined with weak downstream demand have alleviated the supply-demand imbalance, leading to a softening in the selling price of secondary crude lead and a reduction in its price inversion with secondary refined lead. Last week, the price spread between ex-factory prices of some secondary crude lead and refined lead was 50-100 yuan/mt, narrowing to 0-50 yuan/mt this week. Lead prices showed signs of a rebound on Friday this week. If the inflow of imported crude lead becomes more active, the price advantage of domestic secondary crude lead supplies may further diminish.
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