Refined Lead Deficit Widened Further in H1 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics published by the Lisbon, Portugal-based International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) indicates that global refined Lead market ended in deficit during the initial half of the current year. This is upon comparison with the corresponding half-yearly period in 2016. Meantime, the total reported stocks of the metal decreased marginally during this period.

The ILZSG preliminary data indicates that world lead metal demand exceeded supply, thereby pushing the market to a deficit of 86,000 tonnes during the initial six months of 2017. The total reported lead inventories decreased slightly by 18,000 tonnes over the same period last year.

The lead mine production reported increase in China. India and Kazakhstan too reported significant increase in mine output. The increased mine output from these countries more than offset the decline in Australia. The overall global lead mine production soared nearly 11.7% during Jan-June ’17 when compared with the corresponding half-yearly period in 2016. The world lead mine output during the six-month period this year totaled 2.574 million tonnes as compared with 2.305 million tonnes during Jan-June ’16.

The production of refined lead metal during the first six months of 2017 totaled 5.934 million tonnes, significantly higher by almost 7.83% when compared with the 5.503 million tonnes output during corresponding half-yearly period in 2016. The refined lead metal production reported significant jump in China. The rise in output by other countries including India, the Republic of Korea and the United States too accounted for the year-on-year growth in world refined lead metal output during H1 2017.

The global demand for refined lead metal increased sharply by nearly 10% to 6.020 million tonnes during January to June in 2017. The US reported largest jump in refined lead metal demand. The demand rose by 22.8%. The apparent demand in China too reported strong year-on-year growth of 13.3%. The European apparent usage increased modestly by 2.0% during the first six months of 2017.

The Chinese imports of lead contained in lead concentrates totaled 341,000 tonnes, dropping sharply by 6.1% over the previous year. The net imports of refined lead metal by the country totaled 52,000 tonnes. Meantime, the Chinese exports of refined lead metal totaled 12,000 tonnes, ILZSG data said.

The ILZSG preliminary data indicates that global lead mine output totaled 428,400 tonnes during June this year. The global refined zinc metal production totaled 1.004 million tonnes, whereas global zinc usage totaled 1.018 million tonnes during the month.