SMM, September 12:
Secondary lead smelters maintained relatively limited finished product inventories, showing low enthusiasm for spot order shipments during the week, with few offers available. In east China, the mainstream tax-included ex-factory price for secondary refined lead was at a premium of 0-50 yuan/mt against the SMM #1 lead average price, while supplies in southwest and south China were at discounts ranging from 100-50 yuan/mt. The tax-excluded delivery-to-factory price was 950 yuan/mt below the SMM #1 lead average price. Downstream enterprises showed moderate purchase sentiment during the week, and refined lead transactions were average. On Friday, lead prices rebounded, and some suppliers held strong bullish sentiment, reluctant to sell, while downstream enterprises improved their purchase attitudes due to fears of rising prices in the future.
Due to a significant decline in the operating rate of secondary lead, smelters' demand for scrap batteries remained weak, and purchase offers for waste lead-acid batteries were lowered for several consecutive days, significantly narrowing smelters' losses. As of September 12, 2025, the comprehensive break-even theory value for large-scale secondary lead enterprises was -110 yuan/mt, while that for small and medium-sized secondary lead enterprises was -322 yuan/mt. With a warm macro atmosphere, improved end-use consumption of lead MoM from August, and scrap battery prices in the doldrums, SMM expects secondary lead smelting profits to recover to break-even levels by late September.
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