Social inventories of lead ingots expanded 2,500 mt over weekend

SHANGHAI, May 10 (SMM) – Social inventories of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin rose 2,500 mt from last Friday May 7 to 69,200 mt as of Monday May 10, an SMM survey showed. This was up 2,500 mt from last Monday April 26.

Primary and secondary lead smelters recovered from maintenance, while downstream lead-acid battery market was still in a low season. As the SHFE 2105 lead contract is to be delivered this week, cargoes have been shipped to social warehouses, which boosted social inventories. As of May 10, secondary refined lead was mainly traded at discounts of more than 500 yuan/mt, ex-works, against the average price of SMM 1# lead. Preference for secondary lead may accelerate shipments of primary lead to social warehouses.