Due to declining operating enthusiasm among lead smelters and the recovery of supply from lead-zinc mines in China, lead concentrates in the Chinese market were slightly more abundant in April. In addition, affected by weak silver prices and unclear expectations, smelters actively negotiated prices as by-product revenue declined. It is understood that the tender and bid prices for lead concentrates at some lead-zinc mines have already risen slightly by varying amounts of 30-50 yuan/mt Pb, while smelters maintained strong wait-and-see sentiment. In regions such as Hunan and Yunnan, some small-scale smelters still extended their maintenance-related shutdown cycles. Although sentiment in the precious metals market was pessimistic in the short term, the payable indicator for silver content in lead concentrates with various silver grades in the market has not yet been adjusted. Negotiations between mines and smelters mainly focused on increasing TCs. Except that some silver concentrates whose coefficient was raised in Q1 (with silver content above 3,000 g/t) no longer quoted high prices above 0.97, the silver payable indicators of other types of silver-bearing lead concentrates remained stable.

[Supply Disruptions Persist, Imported TCs Continued to Decline]: Weekly data showed that the average weekly TC of SMM Zn50 domestic ore was unchanged at 1,550 yuan/mt in metal content, and the SMM imported zinc concentrate index fell $4.13/dmt MoM to $11.25/dmt...

[Zinc Concentrates Production] According to SMM, a lead-zinc ore mine in Southwest China is expected to resume work and production in mid-March, and is expected to add around 2,000 mt in metal content of zinc concentrates MoM in March.

On February 28, Israeli Air Force fighter jets crossed thousands of kilometers of airspace to conduct a daylight precision strike on the center of Tehran, Iran's capital, drawing significant market attention. How will this conflict impact zinc concentrates? .

According to SMM, as the Chinese New Year holiday approaches, multiple lead-zinc mines in China will enter the conventional production suspension period for the holiday, lasting from one to two weeks. Additionally, some smelters in north China have started their winter break early, with shutdowns lasting two to three months. The supply of lead concentrates in China declined as expected. In the imported ore market, lead concentrate TCs for February remained at -150 to -160 US dollars per dmt. Due to the Chinese New Year holiday, combined with the completion of winter stockpiling by smelters, maintenance shutdowns, and a pause in quotations, market trading activity weakened. This week, approaching the holiday, smelters generally delayed their raw material procurement needs until after the holiday. Precious metal prices consolidated sideways, and the payable indicator for silver contained in lead concentrates showed no significant changes or negotiations. Some smelters adopted a wait-and-see stance temporarily to avoid risks from declining silver processing margins and lower operational expectations. The situation seen in 2026, where smelters "scrambled" for silver-bearing raw materials at the cost of lower TCs, has eased as the overheated precious metals market cooled down. In the short term, TCs for lead concentrates with medium to low silver content remain generally stable.

Historically, domestic zinc concentrate production typically declines continuously from December to February each year. There are two main reasons: first, some mines undergo routine shutdowns in winter due to weather conditions; second, the Chinese New Year holiday falls early in the year, during which many mines suspend operations or conduct maintenance. As this year's Chinese New Year holiday approaches, how will these factors specifically affect domestic zinc concentrate supply？