by Raul de Frutos on JANUARY 27, 2016

Lead prices took a hit this month.

In December, prices rose while other metal prices fell, but the rally turned out to be short-lived, a typical behavior in this bearish commodity market. Our subscribers knew, though, at the beginning of January that it wasn’t a good time to buy, since lead was destined to fall as it neared resistance levels around $1,800 per metric ton.

Lead prices fall in January. Source: MetalMiner analysis of FastMarkets data.

In only two weeks lead prices fell 16% from December’s high. Interestingly, the slump came during one of the strongest months in the auto industry. Auto sales in US hit a new high in 2015, with sales topping 17 million units. In Europe, they grew by 9.3% in 2015 to 13.7 million vehicles. Meanwhile, China, with the largest vehicle market in the world, hit record sales in December, up 18.3% from a year earlier.

Although China’s vehicle sales hit a new record in 2015, its car market decelerated in 2015. The annual growth rate in 2014 was almost 10% while annual growth in 2015 was only 4.7%. In addition, the Chinese market grew thanks to a strong last quarter, which came from a 50% tax cut for small cars, serving as a stimulus measure rather than a sustainable longer-term demand increase.

If it wasn’t because of those inflated numbers, China’s auto market would have probably seen its first down year in 2015.

What This Means For Metal Buyers

It can be argued that, overall, automotive output remains one of the few bright spots in a darkening global manufacturing picture. However, that is not enough to lift this metal up under the current commodity environment. What lead has done in January is just another example of how any metal can struggle when investors don’t put money incommodity markets.

Source:metalminer