Lead prices rose to an 11-month high on Tuesday as more Chinese smelters shut amid an industry-wide clampdown by Beijing following incidents of lead poisoning.
China is the world's largest producer and consumer of the toxic metal used to manufacture car batteries.
The smelter shutdowns in Shaanxi province now threaten to extend to Hunan and Guangxi provinces as authorities widen checks on pollution controls at the plants.
The official added that possible closures of lead smelters would depend on the findings.
Robin Bhar, a senior metal analyst at Calyon in London, said about 400,000 tonnes of smelting capacity -- equal to almost 5 per cent of global production -- have been forced to shut indefinitely in China because "they did not meet national environmental standards".
On the London Metal Exchange, lead for delivery in three months rose to an intraday high of $2,068 a tonne, its highest since last September.
In late trade, lead rose 2.7 per cent to $2,055 a tonne. Lead prices surged 6.8 per cent the previous day.
"The lead market is fundamentally one of the tightest, with supply and demand roughly balanced and global inventories relatively low," Mr Bhar said.
Lead prices have surged 110 per cent from $980 in January helped by the recent surge in car sales.
Analysts said the smelters' closure will push China to import more, particularly in the fourth quarter when the seasonal upswing in consumption gets underway.
Source: CNN
No comments:
Post a Comment