Lead ingot social inventories up 1,300 mt on week

SHANGHAI, Jul 23 (SMM) - Social inventories of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin expanded 1,300 mt from last Friday July 16 to 159,000 mt as of July 23. This was down 40 mt from Monday July 19.

The output of the deliverable primary lead declined slightly on the week due to the power curtailment and maintenance in some smelters. The heavy rains in Henan impeded the local transportation, which slowed down the transfer of lead ingot stocks from plants to social warehouses.

Lead futures rose over 16,000 yuan/mt, discouraging downstream purchase. If the prices stand high next week, the consumption will stay weak, and the social inventories of lead ingots will increase.

Attention needs to be paid to the impact of the heavy rains in Henan and the typhoon in Jiangsu and Zhejiang on the transportation and stocks of lead ingots.