Spot treatment charges for imported lead concentrate stood at $40-$50/mt this week, flat on last week amid weak demand, key Chinese lead producer Jiangxi Copper Corp said in a report Friday.
Back in April there were no offers for high silver, imported lead concentrate as the poorer arbitrage trade opportunities between the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange resulted in losses in imported concentrate trade, and so smelters showed apathy towards buying, the report on Jiangxi's website said.
This week, offers for 60%, high silver, imported lead concentrates were at $40-$50/mt, stable from last week, the data showed.
TC, the fees paid to smelters by mines, for converting the concentrates into refined lead, are a key source of revenue for smelters.
China's national lead concentrate imports in March were 111,470 mt, up 2.9% year on year, with Russia the biggest lead concentrate exporter to China, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
Meanwhile, China's lead smelting sector has been hit by the 'One Belt One Road' summit that kicked off in Beijing May 14, with producers in the key production base in Central China cutting output this month, the report said.
With the Beijing summit and the resultant emissions control measures, lead smelters in the cities of Anyang and Jiyuan in Henan Province, Central China, cut output by more than 30%, restrictions set to last for at least one week, affecting an estimated total output of close to 12,000 mt and tightening supply further, the producer report showed.
Back in April, the domestic environment protection monitoring has also hit China's national lead smelting output, with a loss of total national refined lead output of over 33,000 mt in April, due to overhauls of some medium smelters, as well as the output cuts of some big ones, the report data showed.
Due to the more stringent environment protection checks and the central government sending a third inspection team to check the domestic lead sector, China's recycled lead supply in April fell by over 16,000 mt, the report data showed.
Taking into account weak domestic lead demand boosting China's lead inventories by about 4,900 mt in April, the country's refined lead supply decrease in April is seen at almost 10%, the data showed. The report said that with the inspection team in place for the whole of May, domestic lead supply is forecast to stay tight this month, preventing prices from dipping too much.
Shanghai Futures Exchange's most active 1706 lead futures contract closed at Yuan 15,385/mt ($2,308) Friday, down Yuan 195/mt from Thursday, SHFE data showed. Jiangxi Copper forecast SHFE lead futures prices to move in the range of Yuan 15,500/mt to Yuan 16,300/mt in the near term.
