SHANGHAI, Dec 23 (SMM) - As of December 23, the social inventory of lead ingots across Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Tianjin was 49,200 mt, down 9,400 mt from last Friday (December 16) and 9,700 mt from last Monday (December 19).
According to research, the lead price remained low level at the beginning of the week and major companies purchased on dips for restocking before the year end. As such, the transactions in the spot market increased. Meanwhile, due to the pandemic in Henan, Hunan and Anhui, the transportation was delayed and some downstream enterprises adopted nearby procurement strategy. Therefore, the social inventory declined accordingly. In the second half of the week, domestic and overseas lead prices continued to increase and the LME lead prices rose more significantly. As such, the SHFE/LME lead price ratio declined and the profits of exporting lead ingots increased significantly by 500-1,000 yuan/mt. Therefore, the exports of lead ingots are expected to increase and SMM will pay attention to the impact on the social inventory.
