SHANGHAI, Dec 29 (SMM) – Treatment charges (TCs) for lead concentrate as of Friday December 28 remained unchanged from a week ago, reflecting a tight balance of lead concentrate supply and demand.

In the week ended December 28, TCs for domestic lead concentrate mostly traded at 1,700-1,900 yuan/mt in Pb content, price to factory, with TCs for seaborne materials at $20-30/dmt, both flat with the previous week, SMM assessments showed.

As of December 28, TCs for lead concentrate (Pb 50%) were heard at 1,800-2,000/mt in Henan, 1,600-1,800 yuan/mt in Yunnan, 1,900-2,100 yuan/mt in Inner Mongolia and 1,600-1,700 yuan/mt in Guangxi. All charges are in Pb content.

The LME three-month lead contract saw strong performance and broke through the $2,000/mt level this week. This lowered the ratio of SHFE most-traded lead contract price to LME three-month contract price to 9.2 and narrowed profit margins on imported lead concentrate to a weekly average of 1,700 yuan/mt.