SMM, August 3:
Lead futures prices consolidated on a subdued note, and the tug-of-war between longs and shorts continued. Upstream, some secondary lead smelters held prices firm and held back from selling, sticking to their quotes and unwilling to lower them, with extremely poor willingness to sell. Downstream enterprises were cautious in procurement; with reference to the primary lead price ratio, their intended purchase price for secondary refined lead was at a discount of 100 yuan/mt to the SMM #1 lead average price on an ex-factory basis. The price spread between secondary refined lead and primary lead continued to narrow, revealing the price disadvantage of secondary lead. Actual transactions in the market were limited, with most deals remaining at indicative prices. Short-term market trends followed the fluctuations of futures. The supply-demand stalemate was difficult to break quickly, and trading remained sluggish. Today, the SMM average price for secondary refined lead was reported at 15,225 yuan/mt, at a discount of 25 yuan/mt to the SMM #1 lead average price. The supplier selling sentiment was 0.54, and the purchase sentiment for secondary refined lead today was 1.78 (historical data can be accessed by logging into the database).
