Lead Ingot Social Inventories Expanded 7,100 mt over Weekend

SHANGHAI, Jul 26 (SMM) - Social inventories of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin expanded 7,100 mt from last Friday July 23 to 166,100 mt as of July 26. This was up 7,000 mt from Monday July 19 and registered a new high since October 2014.

Lead prices surged and broke through 16,000 yuan/mt last week, making downstream users wait and see. At the same time, some users turned to purchase secondary lead. The secondary refined lead was mostly traded at a discount over 500 yuan/mt against the average price of SMM 1# lead, with the widest discount at 700 yuan/mt last Friday.

The impact of heavy rain in Henan was alleviated, and some roads were unblocked. The previously delayed goods due to the impeded transportation gradually arrived at the social warehouses, and the social inventories increased significantly.