During the week of January 23 to 29, 2026, the average operating rate of primary lead smelters in three provinces was 66.41%, down 0.44 percentage points from the previous week.
Specifically, smelters in Henan Province maintained stable production levels. As expected, Hunan Province saw a decline in operating rates; although some plants that had previously undergone equipment maintenance resumed production, they had not yet reached full capacity. Regarding maintenance and production cuts, one plant reduced output due to maintenance of its crude lead production line and planned to begin routine shutdown maintenance the following week; two other plants were expected to cut some production next week in preparation for routine maintenance work during the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday. A smelter in Yunnan Province also implemented a slight production cut this week and planned to enter its standard pre-Chinese New Year maintenance phase ahead of schedule. In other regions, two smelters in South China and East China slightly increased production to normal levels this week after completing periodic maintenance.
