China's lead concentrate production down by 6.8% YOY in April 2014
2014-05-27 10:06:36 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 27 May 14 - According to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China produced 225kt of lead in concentrate during April 2014, down by 6.8% YOY and 3.85% MOM.
The production of lead concentrate totaled 743kt in the first four months of 2014, down by 8.4% year-on-year.
As lead and silver prices continued to linger at low levels over the past months, some lead mines halted or reduced production, leading to a decline in lead concentrate output. Meanwhile, impacted by the environmental protection inspection, some lead mines halted production temporarily.
Additionally, some lead-zinc mines were out of production in Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tibet, due to the cold weather, so the supply of lead concentrate was limited in northern China.
Lead concentrate supply was unable to meet the strong demand from lead smelters on the Chinese spot market this year, so lead treatment charges continued to decline this year, down from about RMB1,800-2,000/metal tonne (USD295-328/metal tonne) in early January to around RMB1,500-1,800/metal tonne (USD246-295/metal tonne) in May. Therefore, many lead smelters were under great pressures from shortage of raw materials in China.
With the weather turning warmer, lead concentrate supply is expected to increase gradually in the northern China in the coming months, so lead smelters may increase production accordingly.
