This week, domestic Pb50 weekly TCs remained flat at an average of 200 yuan/mt Pb. During the negotiation period for next month's TCs, enterprises indicated that the price had not been fully determined, but against the broader backdrop of tight lead concentrates, expectations remain for further downward adjustments next month. For TCs to stop falling and stabilize, actual production cuts by primary lead smelters would need to be seen. Outside China, weekly import TCs held steady at -$165/dmt, but the strike in Bolivia disrupted imports of lead and zinc concentrates, and expectations remain for further declines in import TCs. In addition, although the silver price fell further to the level at the end of last year, it stayed high overall; the silver coefficient in lead concentrates was generally stable. Furthermore, silver-lead ore also contains valuable metals such as copper and zinc. Against the backdrop of an overall ore shortage, smelters still favoured rich ores, and for some enterprises, due to copper-rich material with silver content above 2,000 g, the transaction coefficient could still reach a high of 96%.

On October 22nd, Boliden released its third-quarter 2025 results, showing a quarter-on-quarter increase in overall lead and zinc concentrate production. At the Tara mine, milled volumes were broadly in line with the previous quarter, but the ramp-up progressed more slowly than expected due to seasonal factors, slower-than-planned development work, and an unplanned power outage. Boliden revised down its full-year milled ore guidance from 1.8 Mt to 1.6 Mt. SMM expects this to reduce annual zinc concentrate output by around 5,000–10,000 tonnes (metal) and lead concentrate output by about 2,000 tonnes (metal). At the Odda smelter, refined zinc production declined compared with Q2 2025, as operations were negatively affected by a shortage of intermediates. Ramp-up progress was slower than expected, and SMM estimates Odda’s 2025 output at around 170,000–180,000 tonnes of refined zinc.