Reported Lead metal stocks edged higher by 23kt in 2016

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics published by the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) indicates that reported stock of Lead metal increased by 24kt during all of 2016. The inventories reported by the London Metal Exchange (LME), Shanghai Future Exchange (SHFE), producers and consumers totaled 478kt, higher by 23kt when compared with the reported stocks of 455kt at the end of year 2015. The LME stocks totaled 195kt, whereas stocks held by SHFE totaled 29kt. The reported inventories of the metal with consumers and producers totaled 158kt and 97kt respectively.

The overall global lead mine production dropped marginally by nearly 1.3% during the whole year 2016 when compared with the previous year. The mine output by world countries excluding China dropped sharply by 9.7% year-on-year to total 2.364 million tons. The world lead mine output during 2016 totaled 4.704 million tons as against 4.765 million tons during 2015.

The lead mine production reported decline in majority of major producing countries including Australia, Mexico and the United States. Australia reported sharpest decline in mine output. The lead mine output by the country tumbled by 30.2% over the previous year to total 456kt in 2016. The country’s mine output had totaled 654kt in 2015. The mine output by India too plunged heavily by 25.9% from 136kt in 2015 to 101kt during the previous year. The other countries to report significant decline in mine output were Mexico (232kt, down 12%), Peru (314kt, down 0.5%) and the USA (340kt, down 7.3%). On the other hand, China reported rise in mine output during 2016. The Chinese mine output totaled 2.340 million tons, surging higher by nearly 9% when compared with the output of 2.147 million tons recorded in 2015.

The 2016 refined lead metal production totaled 11.093 million tons, marginally higher by 2.4% when compared with the 10.836 million tons output during all of 2015. The refined lead metal production reported marginal decline in the Europe, Mexico and China. On the other hand, Republic of Korea, Australia and Kazakhstan recorded increased lead metal output during the year. The refined output by world countries excluding China reported stronger year-on-year growth of 4.8%.

Europe’s production was down marginally by 0.3% from 1.912 million tons in 2015 to 1.907 million tons in 2016. The output by Mexico has declined by 1.7% from 344kt to 338kt over the year. China too reported 0.7% decline in refined lead metal output during the year. The country’s production totaled 4.665 million tons in 2016.

The Republic of Korea reported biggest jump in output. The output by the country surged to 820kt, rising by 27.9%. Australia too reported 13.8% increase over the year. The production of refined lead metal by Australia totaled 231kt. An 11% jump in production was reported by Kazakhstan during the year. The other countries to report increased refined production during 2016 were Canada (+1.3%), USA (+4.6%), India (+1.8%) and Japan (+3.3%).

The world refined metal usage reported modest rise of 2%. The usage by world countries excluding China grew by 4.7%. The usage totaled 11.082 million tons in 2016. The decline in usage by China and Japan was offset by increased usage by the Europe, the US and Japan. The change in lead metal usage when compared with 2015 is as follows: Europe (1.845 million tons, +8.7%), the US (1.589 million tons, +3.6%), China (4.639 million tons, -1.5%), India (573kt, +5.6%), Japan (265kt, -0.5%) and Republic of Korea (600kt, +4.4%).