Approaching the year-end, the lead concentrate market remained sluggish with thin actual transactions. Several mining enterprises completed tenders and bids, received advance payments, and closed their accounts early for inventory counting. In the imported ore trade market, the Christmas and New Year holiday atmosphere was strong, and market trading demand may be delayed until after the New Year holiday. There are expectations that bid prices for imported ore may be lowered after the holiday. Domestic smelters maintained a wait-and-see stance, and lead concentrate TCs overall remained stable in January. Smelters in Henan, Inner Mongolia, and other regions still expected continuous arrivals of imported ore under long-term contracts. Smelters in southern regions such as Jiangxi, Hunan, and Yunnan primarily used silver-lead ore as raw material. Due to maintained bullish expectations for silver prices, some smelters increased the proportion of silver concentrate usage to ensure comprehensive benefits, sacrificing lead feed grade and recovery efficiency. In the short term, high-silver lead ore maintained an undersupply trend. According to SMM, silver prices rose sharply this week, while the silver payable indicator remained high but stagnant. Mining enterprises generally accepted smelters' demand for keeping the payable indicator stable.
