China's second-quarter lead concentrate imports may remain low

Smelting industry sources said that due to high lead and silver prices and demand, China's lead concentrate imports from April to June may remain depressed.

Comprehensive media reported on April 19 that sources of smelting and trading sources said on Monday that China’s imports of lead concentrate may remain stagnant from April to June due to high international prices of its components, lead and silver, which will hurt demand. China’s imports of lead concentrates in February have fallen by 12.7%.

The reduction in imports may force small smelters to cut output in the coming months, reducing the supply of this major global lead market.

A large lead smelter trader said that international lead prices are high, and silver prices are even higher, making it difficult to import.

The trader said that its company continues to collect lead concentrates based on the current fixed-term contract price, and is not eager to purchase in the spot market. It is expected that monthly lead concentrate imports will remain below 100,000 tons from April to June.

An international trade company trader said that there is not enough supply locally, and some smelters have to reduce their production. While Chinese refineries have been buying in the domestic market, they told us that they may import in the second half of the year.

The trader said that the credit crunch in China has also limited the spot imports of small smelters in China.

LME three-month lead hit a three-year high of $2,904 per ton on April 11 and spot silver hit a 31-year high of $43.35 per ounce on Monday.

An international trade company trader estimates that Chinese smelters that import lead concentrates on Monday and sell them locally will lose 2,000-3,000 yuan ($306-459) per ton of lead and $7 per ounce of silver.

China imported 88,684 tons of lead concentrate in February 2011, only about half of that in January and 12.7% less than in February 2010.

The import volume decreased by 34% compared with the average monthly import volume of 133,650 tons last year.

China’s lead production in March 2011 was 225,000 tons, an increase of 28.6% from the same period of last year. The first quarter mining volume surged 29.7% from the same period last year to 463,000 tons.