Social inventories of lead ingots across five Chinese markets stood at 122,100 mt, up 15,400 mt from Mar 4 MoM and 12,900 mt from Mar 7, hitting a historical high within three months.

As the domestic secondary lead smelters cannot purchase raw materials smoothly in the early stage of the implementation of the new value-added tax (VAT) policy on lead-acid battery scrap, the domestic lead prices are expected to move upward supported by the higher costs and expectations for tighter supply. However, the lead consumption market is approaching the traditional off season, the lead ingot inventory increases, and the spot discounts expand.

Data released by LME shows that the lead inventory across LME-listed warehouses have been falling from the high level of 58,175 mt since November 16, 2021.

SHANGHAI, Oct 15 – According to SMM survey, the average operating rate of primary lead smelters in three provinces was 52.68% this week, up 0.98 percentage point from a week ago.

SHANGHAI, Oct 15 – According to SMM survey, as of October 15, the total lead ingot inventory in the five major regions stood at 199,700 mt, down 6,800 mt from a week ago and down 5,900 mt from October 11.

This is a roundup of China's metals weekly inventory as of October 15.

Stainless steel futures entered sharp correction.  The most-traded SHFE contract fell sharply after hitting highs on September 23, and closed at 19,690 yuan/mt today. The decline reached 12.2% for four trading days.

The contango of LME cash to the three-month contract maintained at $10/mt. LME zinc prices are expected to stand at $2,960-3,030/mt this week. The most-traded SHFE contracts are expected to stand at 22,000-22,600 yuan/mt this week, spot premiums of Shanghai zinc stood at 180-200 yuan/mt over the October contract.

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on Wednesday May 16, 2018.

The following table shows the movements of ferrous and nonferrous metals on the SHFE and DCE on Friday April 20. 2018.