In India, the prices of drained lead batteries trended flat to down while secondary lead ingot prices trended flat to up in the week ending November 11. Fewer trades took place on Wednesday since several smelters will remain shut for most of the next week as India celebrates Diwali.
Smelters in Delhi and Mumbai will be shut till Monday, followed by maintenance break. Production will begin only by Nov 20. Smelters have stocked up scrap to begin production as soon as the break ends. As a result, demand for scrap was low.
The weekly Davis Index for secondary lead ingot in Mumbai, Wednesday, settled at Rs140,833/mt ($1,897/mt) ex-works producer, up by Rs343/mt. The weekly Index for lead batteries (drained) settled at Rs82,615/mt del Mumbai consumer, down by Rs75/mt.
Mumbai market for lead weakened in terms of spread for ingots and battery scrap. Spreads for secondary lead ingot contracted by 0.06pc from the previous week while scrap widened by 0.24pc. Index for ingot rose slightly by 0.24pc while LME lead rose 0.93pc or by $17/mt and settled at $1,836/mt on Tuesday from the previous week.
The weekly Davis Index for secondary lead ingot in Delhi on Wednesday remained unchanged at Rs140,250/mt ex-works producer. Prices will remain flat for the next week and demand will rise only in the last week of the month. The weekly Index for lead batteries (drained) in Delhi settled at Rs80,750/mt del consumer, down by Rs140/mt.
The market in Delhi for lead weakened in terms of spreads. Despite a rise in secondary lead ingot index for Delhi of 0.24pc, spreads narrowed by 0.31pc. Spreads for lead batteries (drained) index for Delhi widened by 0.28pc from the previous week. Markets weakened as LME lead leaped slightly higher by 0.93pc in a week.
($1=Rs74.24)