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China's fine-tuned lead exports drop to 2022 low on tight domestic supply

China's improved lead exports hit their least expensive because September 2022 last month as an absence of raw material restricted domestic production, and are expected to remain depressed for a minimum of a few more months, market participants stated on Monday.

In June China exported 1,362 metric lots of refined lead, a. 91% drop from last June's 15,215 loads, customs information released on. Saturday revealed.

At the same time, imports of the metal jumped to the highest. because August 2023 at 525 tons, the data showed.

Shortage of lead concentrate and lead battery (scrap). caused low margins or financial loss for smelters, leading to. widespread cutbacks at smelters in China, stated analyst Dina Yu. at consultancy and research firm CRU Group.

Lead output in China fell 3.7% year-on-year in the first. half of this year to 3.88 million tons, information by the National. Bureau of Data of China revealed. On the other hand, output increased. 4% in 2022 and rose 11.2% in 2023, the data showed.

Refined lead imports were driven greater by the price. difference in between the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) -. China's primary futures market for base metals - and the worldwide. benchmark bourse the London Metal Exchange (LME).

The recent increase in SHFE lead prices is stronger than the. increase in LME lead prices, resulting in negative arbitrage for lead. exports and advantage for refined imports, Yu added.

A China-based trader said they had actually received a rising number. of order, but that there was insufficient freight to fulfill. need.

Lead is the best entertainer throughout the base metals complex on. the SHFE, up 25% up until now this year, followed by tin at 19% and. copper at 9%. Its most-traded front-month agreement. strike a record high on July 18 at 19,595 yuan ($ 2,694) a lot.

The LME three-month lead contract, on the other. hand, has risen only 3% so far this year.

Tight concentrate supply internationally had actually dragged the treatment. charges (TC) for lead in China to 600 yuan a lot by July 1, the. lowest in 4 years, regular monthly Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) information. supplied on LSEG Workspace revealed. << SMM-LDCONC-DOM > TCs for imported lead concentrate fell even lower, to $10 a. ton, by July 1, the most affordable since at least 2014, the SMM data. showed.< SMM-LDCONC-IMP > Chinese purchasers have

bullion in June, the highest considering that July 2019. Yu and two traders anticipated the higher lead

imports and. lower exports trend to continue, and possibly to intensify in. July.

(source: Reuters)