LME Lead Market Was Closed Yesterday; Overnight SHFE Lead Closed Slightly Lower [SMM Lead Morning Brief]

SMM May 26:

The London Metal Exchange was closed on May 25 for a UK bank holiday and resumed trading on May 26.

Overnight, the most-traded SHFE lead 2607 contract opened at 16,755 yuan/mt, briefly touched a high of 16,775 yuan/mt at the start of the session before pulling back, and moved sideways around the 16,700 yuan/mt level, ultimately closing at 16,710 yuan/mt, down 0.27%.

Recently, apart from a few social warehouses where lead ingot inventory declined due to downstream enterprises picking up goods, other social warehouses saw slight increases due to suppliers' inventory transfers and arrivals of imported lead. After concentrated dip-buying by downstream enterprises during the lead price pullback last week, lead prices have rebounded in recent days, and downstream enterprises' enthusiasm for purchases has weakened notably. In addition, with secondary lead losses repaired, smelters actively offered shipments at discounts. Secondary refined lead was quoted at premiums of -50~0 yuan/mt against the SMM #1 lead price on an ex-factory basis, while primary lead was quoted at premiums of 0~+75 yuan/mt against the SMM #1 lead price on an ex-factory basis. Some downstream enterprises' rigid demand leaned toward secondary lead. Going forward, social inventory destocking of lead ingots will continue to slow down, and resistance above lead prices remains evident.

Data source disclaimer: Data other than public information is derived from public information, market communication, and SMM's internal database models, processed by SMM for reference only and does not constitute decision-making advice.