Social Inventory of Lead Ingots Increases Less than Expected

SHANGHAI, Mar 10 (SMM) - As of March 10, the social inventory of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin was 51,700 mt, down 200 mt from last Friday (March 3) and up 100 mt from this Monday (March 6).

According to research, approaching the delivery of SHFE 2303 lead contract, the deliverable goods arrived at the warehouses, hence the social inventory of lead ingots increased as expected. This week, large-scale secondary lead smelter in Anhui and other places carried out maintenance unexpectedly, which tightened the supply of lead ingots. Downstream enterprises generally purchased primary lead for rigid demand, consuming the inventory of lead smelters. As such, the increase in social inventory was less than expected. SHFE 2303 lead contract will be delivered on March 15 and the social inventory of lead ingots is expected to increase further. But the continuous maintenance of the secondary lead smelters and the low inventory of the primary lead smelters will weigh on the amount of lead ingots transferred to social warehouses.