Lead Smelters in China May Idle Capacity as Consumption Weakens
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Lead smelters in China, the world’s largest producer and consumer, may idle capacity as demand slows amid a power shortage and as the nation clamps down on polluting units, according to Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.
“Lead demand has been weak and while we haven’t heard of smelters cutting output, many have brought forward their annual maintenance shutdowns, which is essentially the same thing,” said Hu Yongda, an analyst at state-owned Antaike. He didn’t give an estimate of how much capacity may be affected.