Research

Forecasts and market analysis based on price assessments from Fastmarkets MB and Fastmarkets AMM

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December 2019 | Base Metals


Lead: Consolidation, but still vulnerable


Lead prices set fresh multi-month lows last week, dropping to $1,880 per tonne. This prompted some buying in India, which has led to a pick-up in premiums. But with prices falling further at the start of this week, the buying has not been strong enough to provide support yet. We still view this pullback as a correction to the market getting overbought in the summer and, as such, we expect support will be found soon. Indeed, we would argue that prices have already overshot on the downside.

Low prices see scrap availability shrink LME lead prices remain weak, trading down to a low of $1,880 per tonne on Friday December 6 last week and again at the start of this week. Lead has gone from being one of the stronger performers in the second and third quarters to now seeing prices lower than where they started the year ($2,016 per tonne). But the lower prices have prompted buying in India, mainly as the price fall means scrap merchants are holding onto their...

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