Maintenance shuts impact Recylex sales

Europe – The France-based Recylex Group has reported a year-on-year drop in sales of 10% to Euro 294.1 million for the opening nine months of 2015, mainly due to major scheduled maintenance shutdowns in the second quarter.

According to the lead and zinc specialist’s chairman and ceo Yves Roche, metal prices ‘decreased strongly’ in the third quarter and the group has duly kept ongoing investments ‘to the minimum’. However, he also highlighted ‘a positive production performance, particularly at the Nordenham lead smelter (in Germany)’. In the first three quarters of 2015, lead production at the smelter totalled 92 596 tonnes – down 11% from the 103 717 tonnes of the same period last year.

Processing plants in France and Germany recycled a total of 94 304 tonnes of scrap batteries, a drop of 10% from the 104 988 tonnes of January-September 2014. On a year-on-year basis, scrap zinc recycling sales were slightly higher in the first nine months of 2015.