US lead scrap prices increased on Wednesday by around 1-3¢/lb from last week.
The weekly Davis Index for heavy soft lead increased by 3¢/lb to 74¢/lb, while the Index for mixed hard lead rose by a penny to 69¢/lb.
However, the Davis Index for whole undrained batteries was flat at 37¢/lb, as demand remained even in a quiet market. The Index for lead ingots premium remained at 9.5¢/lb for the third straight week as market participants looked for more demand to increase premiums.
Market participants are looking at another week of flat pricing unless the official three-month LME lead contract increases by at least 10-15¢, notwithstanding the rise over the past week. The official three-month LME lead contract closed on Wednesday at $0.8518/lb up by around 1.47¢ from $0.8371/lb last week.
According to some market participants, the current increase on the LME did not impact scrap prices since the latter had already adjusted upward before the surge.