SMM

This week, the lead concentrates market remained stable. The tightness of imported ore with few offers persisted, and the signing process for 2026 long-term contracts progressed slowly, with significant differences in specific price negotiations, leading to strong wait-and-see sentiment among smelters. In the domestic ore trade market, silver prices continued to rise and strengthen this week. Smelters in Henan, Inner Mongolia, and other regions continued purchasing as needed. Smelters in Jiangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, and other areas in south China generally indicated that lead concentrates resources in the market for December were largely sold out, resulting in scarce market offers and low TCs. Several smelters mentioned that imported ore under long-term contracts scheduled for delivery in Q4 arrived at plants successively, temporarily filling the demand gap and leading to a suspension of December procurement plans. The spot order market for lead concentrates gradually entered a phase of declining both supply and demand. The payable indicator for silver concentrates (containing 4,000-5,000g/mt in physical content) has been raised to its upper limit, with no possibility of further increases in the short term; consequently, the payable indicators for silver in silver-lead ores of other grades also showed no signs of further increase.