According to SMM survey, social lead ingot inventory across five major regions in China totalled 56,200 mt as of September 1, down 1,000 mt from August 25 and 2,000 mt from August 28.
SHFE lead prices fell to a low of 16,070 yuan/mt early last week, prompting some downstream companies to purchase on demand, reducing social inventory of lead ingots. In the second half of the week, lead prices strengthened with the front-month contract rising to a maximum of 17,305 yuan/mt last Friday. This sidelined downstream companies. In the meantime, the price difference between futures contracts and spot cargoes expanded sharply, driving sellers of deliverable brands to deliver cargoes to warehouses. Lead ingot inventories are thus expected to rise.
