Recently, end-use consumption in the lead-acid battery market remained relatively stable, with dealers basically purchasing as needed. Meanwhile, lead prices fluctuated downward, and some dealers were concerned that battery selling prices would follow the decline. In addition, as April to May is the traditional consumption off-season, dealers were also relatively cautious in procurement, and lead-acid battery enterprises produced based on sales. In terms of lead ingot procurement, spot cargo circulating in the lead market is currently relatively ample, and downstream enterprises purchased as needed. It was not until the second half of the week, when lead prices fell further, that some enterprises restocked at lower prices as needed, and trading activity in the spot market improved.

SMM News, Mar 13: This week, the recycling volume of waste lead-acid battery recyclers rebounded significantly WoW, with the recycling volume of some recyclers rising 40% from the initial stage of work resumption. However, affected by downstream consumption not yet having fully recovered and a relatively low volume of retired scrap battery, some enterprises still saw recycling volume that had not returned to pre-holiday levels. As secondary lead smelters resumed work at a relatively slow pace and demand for scrap battery had not yet surged, SMM expected the purchase prices of waste lead-acid battery to stabilize next week. Domestic secondary crude lead smelters posted a poor operating rate, with some enterprises suspending production due to environmental protection-related controls. Suppliers held firm offers, and the current mainstream ex-factory prices excluding tax stood at 15,250-15,400 yuan/mt. If containing some antimony and tin metals, ex-factory offers were at least 15,500 yuan/mt. At present, imported lead supply was ample, and suppliers had relatively weak bargaining power, giving downstream enterprises near ports a greater advantage in purchases. SMM expected domestic secondary crude lead supply to remain tight in the short term, with imports serving as the main supplement. » Subscribe to View Historical SMM Metal Spot Prices

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It was learned that the weekly composite operating rate of lead-acid battery enterprises across five provinces tracked by SMM stood at 73.45% from March 6 to March 12, 2026, up 1.78 percentage points WoW from the previous week. In March, major lead-acid battery enterprises basically resumed normal production. The last batch of enterprises that resumed work in early March also recently completed production ramp-up on their production lines, with operating rates of 80-100% at medium and large enterprises and 50-80% at small enterprises. At present, most orders for e-bike and automotive battery enterprises came from dealers' routine post-Chinese New Year restocking, but actual improvement in end-use market consumption remained limited. Among them, battery exports were affected by factors such as tariffs, the SHFE/LME price ratio, and transportation, and export-oriented enterprises saw weak order performance. In addition, orders for ESS battery enterprises were moderate, especially tender orders from data centers, and the production lines of such enterprises were operating at full capacity.

SMM News, March 13: This week, finished product inventories of secondary lead destocked significantly, standing at 26,600 mt as of March 12, down 13,100 mt from March 5. The main reasons were: the resumption progress of secondary lead smelters was slow, raw material inventories at downstream battery enterprises were depleted, and demand for cargo pick-up under long-term contracts increased. In addition, starting next week, the release of capacity at two large smelters in east China will somewhat ease the tight regional supply of secondary lead; however, as high raw material prices led suppliers of secondary lead to hold prices firm, downstream purchase willingness for spot orders remained weak. Secondary lead finished product inventories are expected to return to a supply-demand balance level next week, with a lower probability of unilateral wild swings. 》Subscribe to View Historical SMM Metal Spot Prices

SMM News, March 13: This week, mainstream tax-inclusive ex-factory prices for secondary lead were at parity against the SMM #1 lead average price, with discounts of 50-100 yuan/mt in some areas; dragged down by scrap battery prices and weak downstream consumption, the industry remained loss-making, and most smelters held prices firm and were reluctant to sell. As of March 13, 2026, the theoretical comprehensive profit and loss for large-scale enterprises was -422 yuan/mt, and that for small and medium-sized enterprises was -633 yuan/mt (the model’s by-product revenue did not include tin or antimony). With delivery to be completed and rigid demand expected to recover next week, SMM expected discounts for secondary lead to narrow slightly. Overall, losses across China’s secondary lead industry remained unchanged and production resumptions were slow. Given the availability of primary lead and imported lead cargoes, premiums for spot orders of secondary refined lead were likely to maintain sideways movement, making substantial premiums difficult to emerge. > Subscribe to View Historical SMM Metal Spot Prices