Lead social inventories halted 7 weeks of slide amid weak battery demand

SHANGHAI, Apr 17 (SMM) – Social inventories of lead ingots in China held roughly flat from a week ago at 10,000 mt as of April 17, halting the decline over the previous seven consecutive weeks, showed SMM data. 

Consumption in the lead-acid battery market weakened, and this drove lead smelters to lower their production targets. Consumers continued to shift demand to secondary materials as the rising supply of secondary lead expanded discounts of secondary refined lead to as much as 100 yuan/mt against the average prices of SMM 1# lead on an ex-work basis.

Finished products inventories at most refined lead smelters were not high as smelters focused on delivering under long-term contracts. This saw limited amounts of lead cargoes shipped from smelters to social warehouses this week. 

SMM expects further increase in secondary lead supply to send overall social inventories of lead ingot slightly higher next week. The prospects for the consumption of lead-acid batteries remain bleak.