US weekly lead scrap prices were rangebound on Wednesday for the second successive week, despite an increase in the LME Lead market.
LME Lead prices are catching up with the rest of the base metals complex. The official three-month LME Lead contract rose by $106.50/mt from Apr 28 to close at $2,201.50/mt today.
The weekly Davis Index for whole undrained batteries inched down by 0.4¢/lb to 31.3¢/lb delivered US consumer on Wednesday amid abundant supply despite rising demand for the material.
Smelters have preferred maintaining healthy volumes of scrap battery this month in anticipation of an impact of planned maintenance in June-July on supply and demand for this material.
Supply also weighed on lead scrap prices this week with the index for heavy soft lead decreasing by 0.6¢/lb to 78.3¢/lb delivered US consumer, while hard lead remained unchanged at 76¢/lb delivered.
The weekly Davis Index lead ingot premium remained unchanged at 15.8¢/lb delivered US consumer as refined lead shortages continued to keep the supply of this material tight.