Mitsubishi Materials Cuts Pb price to Year Low

Mitsubishi Materials announced on Friday the firm reduces official lead ingot price by 5,000 yen to 131,000 yen per tonne for December shipment. The official price renewed the yearly low to reflect yen application against the dollar. The decline of the price totals 25,000 yen or 16% since the beginning of December. The monthly averaged price would be 139,000 yen without any more revision without December.

Lead settlement at London Metal Exchange was US$ 945.5 per tonne on Thursday, which was US$ 30.5 higher than the level on December 5 or base of previous price change by Mitsubishi Materials.

But during this period, the exchange rate became 90 yen level from 93 yen to the dollar and the official lead price dropped to less than a third of the yearly high of 398,000 yen per tonne at the end of February. The price is likely to become below 130,000 yen for the first time since May 2004.

Lead is mainly used for car battery. The world demand for battery increases uncertainty while a Japanese battery maker source said battery production decreases as same as automobile production. The lead price is unlikely to rise when the hedge fund seems to avoid an aggressive dealing under the uncertainty.