Secondary lead supplies grow stocks of primary materials in Shanghai, Guangdong

SHANGHAI, Sep 7 (SMM) – Social inventories of primary lead in Shanghai and Guangdong grew over 800 mt from a week ago to stand at 10,500 mt as of Friday September 7, SMM data showed.

As consumption rose steadily, lead-acid battery producers purchased raw materials on demand this week and favoured cheaper secondary lead.

Secondary lead smelters in Anhui and Jiangxi provinces stepped up production and smelters rushed to offload cargoes after lead prices came off from early highs. This widened the price spread between secondary and primary materials. Discounts of secondary refined lead against SMM #1 primary lead stood around 200 yuan/mt as of Friday.