The average operating rate of primary lead smelters in three provinces was 67.57% this week (October 17, 2025 - October 23, 2025), down 0.93 percentage points WoW. This week, overall production at smelters in Henan and Yunnan remained stable. A small-to-medium-sized smelter in Hunan that had undergone maintenance previously resumed production, but only half of its production lines were restarted, with no plans for full production in the short term; another smelter, after completing its maintenance shutdown, had not yet announced a specific date for production resumption. Additionally, in north China, a smelter that had resumed operations after maintenance but had not yet reached full capacity saw a slight increase in production this week, and it is expected to gradually return to regular production levels in November. For east China, a smelter plans to carry out a maintenance shutdown in Q4, with maintenance work on the primary lead production line expected to begin in November.
