Dear users, On August 29, 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration of China jointly issued the "Secondary Lead Ingot (GB/T 21181-2025)" (hereinafter referred to as the "new national standard"), which will officially take effect on March 1, 2026. Compared to the "Secondary Lead and Lead Alloy Ingot (GB/T 21181-2017)" (hereinafter referred to as the "old national standard"), the new national standard revised the scope. It changed from "This standard applies to secondary lead and its alloy ingots produced by smelting and processing using lead-containing scrap as raw material, mainly used in batteries, alloys, chemical industry, and other fields" to "This document applies to secondary lead ingots produced by pyrometallurgical smelting and processing using waste lead-acid batteries and recycled lead and lead alloy materials as raw materials, mainly used in lead-acid batteries, alloys, chemical industry, and other fields." Regarding secondary lead grades, the ZSPb99.994 and ZSPb99.992 secondary lead ingot grades were deleted the ZSPb99.990, ZSPb99.986, and ZSPb99.983 secondary lead ingot grades were added. Details are as follows: With the development and changes in the secondary lead industry, the actual production and use of secondary lead in the market in recent years have already diverged significantly from the old national standard. In addition to changes in the main element lead content, the bismuth (Bi) content has also undergone substantial changes. According to SMM's understanding of major producers and users of secondary lead, the distribution by bismuth content usage is as follows: enterprises using bismuth content ≤0.008% account for about 15% those using ≤0.012% account for about 60% and those using ≤0.015% account for about 25%. Furthermore, based on its price assessment methodology, SMM solicited market suggestions on the specifications for the secondary refined lead price. Market feedback recommended that the price collection standard for SMM's secondary refined lead price reference the new national standard for secondary lead, with grade ZSPb99.99 accounting for 24%, grade ZSPb99.986 for 66%, and grade ZSPb99.983 for 10%. Considering that the current actual usage in the secondary lead market covers the three grades specified in the new national standard for secondary lead, SMM will define the specifications for the national and regional prices of secondary refined lead as ZSPb99.983-99.99%, based on real market transaction conditions. The new standard will be officially implemented from January 1, 2026, serving as the reference standard for SMM's price assessments. During this period, SMM will continue to collect suggestions and feedback from all parties, closely follow changes in the lead industry chain market, and identify and optimize SMM prices to better serve the industry! For any questions regarding prices, please contact lead analyst Wenming Xia at 021-51666839. SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd. Lead and Zinc Research Division December 25, 2025
PriceDec 25, 2025 09:41Dear Customer, To keep pace with the rapid development of the recycled copper raw materials industry and meet the market's demand for in-depth analysis of the recycling industry and the supply-demand pattern of copper cathode, our company has conducted a comprehensive optimization of the data model. We are now systematically upgrading and adjusting the standards and content of China's monthly supply-demand balance data for recycled copper raw materials, with the following treatment applied to historical data: I. Adjustments This upgrade primarily optimizes and updates the following indicators in the balance table: "Supply of Old Scrap from Recycled Copper Raw Materials," "Supply of New Scrap from Recycled Copper Raw Materials," "Processing Volume of Recycled Copper Raw Materials," and "Smelting Volume of Recycled Copper Raw Materials." (Data modification path: Database > Copper > SMM Recycled Copper > Monthly Supply-Demand Balance Table for Copper Scrap) II. Historical Data Treatment Historical monthly supply-demand balance data for recycled copper raw materials will no longer be updated starting from September 2025. Subsequent data will be uniformly released under the new standard, with the revised data retroactively applied from January 2025. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the SMM Customer Service Team. Thank you for your continued support and trust! IV. Effective Date Effective from January 1, 2026 SMM Information & Technology Co., Ltd. SMM Copper Research Team Liang Kaihui 86-21-5159-5826 December 19, 2025
DataDec 20, 2025 00:25Dear Useres, With the deep reshaping of the new energy industry chain, the strategic position of sulphur, a traditional bulk raw material, is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Historically, price fluctuations in sulphur-sulphuric acid primarily affected traditional industries such as phosphate fertilisers and titanium dioxide. However, as lithium iron phosphate (LFP) has become the mainstream cathode material for power batteries, the production of its core precursor, iron phosphate, heavily relies on high-purity phosphoric acid, which in turn uses sulphuric acid as its raw material. This enables price fluctuations in the sulphur-sulphuric acid chain to be directly and rapidly transmitted to the cost of LFP. Similarly, in areas such as nickel-cobalt smelting and precursor preparation, sulphuric acid is a key auxiliary material, and its price directly impacts the cost of products like battery-grade nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate. The emergence of new demands: Sulphur itself, as a key sulphur source for lithium sulphide and sulphide solid-state electrolytes (such as LPSC), is seeing its material purity and supply stability begin to attract attention from cutting-edge battery technology R&D. As an authoritative information institution long dedicated to the non-ferrous metals and new energy materials sectors, SMM, after a period of consolidation and market surveys, plans to introduce new sulphur price points starting December 12, aiming to provide the market with more precise pricing anchors and price references. The specific new price points are as follows: Sulphur: Solid, Sulphur (S) content ≥99.0%, Price Description: Ex-factory price (buyer's self pick-up price), including 13% VAT. SMM New Energy Research Team December 04, 2025 Sulphur Price
PriceDec 15, 2025 10:18