Refined Lead market to show 'modest' deficit in 2014, 2015: ILZSG

UNITED KINGDOM December 05 2014 11:35 AMTweet 
LONDON (Scrap Register): The International Lead and Zinc Study Group said that global demand for refined lead metal will continue to exceed supply by a modest amount in both 2014 and 2015, forecasting a deficit of 38,000 mt this year and 23,000 mt in 2015.

Global demand for refined lead metal is forecast to rise by 1.4% to 11.33 million mt this year and by a further 2.1% to 11.56 million mt in 2015, the ILZSG said.

Group added that in China, despite a further increase in automotive output and an expansion in the construction of mobile phone base stations that require industrial lead-acid batteries for back-up power, demand growth is expected to slow to 2.5% in 2014 and 2.9% in 2015.

This is mainly due to a slowing of the increase of output of e-bikes that account for a significant portion of Chinese automotive lead-acid battery sales.