Under the contradiction of tight supply of waste lead-acid batteries and severe surplus in secondary lead production capacity, the high costs brought about by the firm prices of scrap batteries, coupled with weak downstream consumption, have led to prolonged losses for China's secondary lead smelters. The price of secondary refined lead often remains unchanged, while sentiment fluctuates first. Is there a way for enterprises to capture the market's "temperature" before "price fluctuations"?
After a period of research by the SMM Recycled Metals Team, the Secondary Refined Lead Spot Trading Sentiment Index (RSL-ESI) has officially gone live!
I. What is the Index?
The Secondary Refined Lead Spot Trading Sentiment Index (Refined Secondary Lead Emotion-based Sentiment Index), abbreviated as "RSL-ESI", is composed of two factors: the "Secondary Refined Lead Shipment Sentiment Factor" and the "Secondary Refined Lead Procurement Sentiment Factor". It quantifies the market's "temperature" on a given day using a scale of 1–5:
5: Panic buying, spot goods sold out instantly
4: Active inquiries, significant restocking across all links
3: Active inquiries, essential demand + minor restocking
2: Few inquiries, individual essential demand
1: No interest
II. How is the Data Collected?
• Analyst team conducts targeted exchanges with secondary lead producers, battery factories, traders, alloy factories, etc.;
• Scores shipment/procurement intentions item by item;
• Weights by enterprise capacity or monthly average procurement volume to ensure samples cover mainstream industry players;
III. What Can the Index Do for the Industry Chain?
• Producers: Anticipate inventory depletion speed and adjust quotation rhythm flexibly;
• Battery/alloy factories: Lock in raw material costs before signals of "panic buying" or "lying flat" appear;
• Financial institutions: Add a high-frequency sentiment dimension to quantitative strategies, assisting in spot-futures price spread and price difference trading; capture spot-futures price spread repair windows using sentiment deviation values.
IV. How to Access?
Log in to the SMM official website and click "Database", or open the SMM data terminal, and search for Lead-Secondary Lead-Index-Secondary Refined Lead Spot Trading Index, which is pushed promptly at 12:00 PM （Beijing Time）daily. Let sentiment speak before prices.
RSL-ESI stands by your side.
