Social Inventory of Lead Ingots may Decline Futher Next Week

SHANGHAI, Mar 17 (SMM) - As of March 17, the social inventory of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin was 55,500 mt, up 3,800 mt from March 10 and 5,800 mt from March 13.

According to research, due to the delivery of SHFE 2303 lead contract this week, the deliverable goods arrived at the warehouse, and thus the social inventory of lead ingots increased accordingly. In addition, due to the accumulation of inventory during the Chinese New Year holiday in February, smelters delivered actively. As such, the market supply tightened, and the delivery volume of lead ingots was much lower than that in February. In the current market, both primary lead and secondary lead smelters are undergoing maintenance, which weighed on the supply of lead ingots. Amid the acceptable downstream consumption, it is expected that the social inventory of lead ingots will turn into a downward trend again next week.