US weekly lead scrap and whole undrained battery prices were rangebound on Wednesday as supply continued to outpace demand.
The official three-month LME Lead contract declined by $7/mt from Jun 16 to close at $2,190/mt today.
Prices for whole undrained batteries remained rangebound. The weekly Davis Index for the material inching up by 0.3¢/lb to 31.3¢/lb delivered US consumer on Wednesday after dropping by the same amount last week. This market remains oversupplied with prices falling to as low as 29-30¢/lb in the Midwest after recyclers remained out of the market due to smelter shutdowns or space constraints.
That said, prices in other regions continued to remain steady resulting in a sideways movement on the index this week. Participants expect the lead-acid battery scrap market to remain rangebound over the next few months until supply and demand balance.
In the lead scrap market, supply balanced with demand this week keeping the prices rangebound despite LME Lead ticking down. The weekly index for heavy soft lead delivered US consumer increased by 0.8¢/lb to 86.5¢/lb on Wednesday while mixed hard lead climbed by 0.2¢/lb to 82.5¢/lb delivered.
Lead ingot premium remained unchanged at 17.5¢/lb delivered US consumer following a continued supply tightness.