ILZSG Publishes Refined Lead Supply-Demand Statistics for H1 2018

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) announced preliminary data for world lead supply and demand during the initial six-month period of the current year.

The provisional data suggests that world refined lead metal demand exceeded supply by 39kt during the first half of 2018. The total reported stock levels declined by 41kt during Jan-June ’18.

According to ILZSG, the global lead mine production totaled 2.258 million tonnes during the initial six months in 2018. The production declined by 4.2% upon comparison with 2.356 million tonnes of production during the corresponding period in 2017. The rise in mine production in Europe, Cuba and Morocco was offset by production declines in Australia, Kazakhstan, Peru and the U.S. The mine production totaled 358.3 kt in June this year.

The global refined lead metal production increased marginally by 1.2% over the previous year to total 5.794 million tonnes until June this year. The production by European region dropped slightly by 0.4%, whereas the Republic of Korea reported 3.7% year-on-year decline in refined lead metal output. On the other hand, the output recorded growth in India and the U.S.

The metal usage across the world increased marginally by 0.5% from 5.805 million tonnes to 5.833 million tonnes in Jan-June ’18. The sharp drop in apparent demand in Indonesia and the Republic of Korea were more than offset by production rises in Germany and the U.S. The European lead metal usage remained more or less flat during the initial six months of the year.