SMM December 26:
The weekly operating rate for secondary lead in four provinces was 45.36% from December 19 to December 25, 2025, up 3.75 percentage points WoW. Production restrictions in east and central China due to environmental protection factors last week largely recovered this week; notably, smelters in Anhui significantly increased production, with the regional operating rate rising 7.26 percentage points MoM. It is noteworthy that a Level II heavy pollution weather alert was issued again in Anhui at 18:00 today, and the operating rate for secondary lead in Anhui is expected to decline next week. The operating rate in Henan increased 2.51 percentage points WoW, while rates in Jiangsu and Inner Mongolia were basically flat WoW. Additionally, due to poor arrivals of waste lead-acid batteries, a large smelter in Inner Mongolia stated that if raw material inventory continues to drop and threatens production, it plans to halt operations to accumulate raw materials. In summary, environmental protection-related controls and raw material supply are the main factors affecting secondary lead production recently. SMM expects the secondary lead operating rate to decrease by 1.07 percentage points next week.
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