Japan Official Lead Price Gets Highest in 25 Years

Mitsubishi Materials announced on Wednesday the firm raised official lead ingot price by 17,000 yen to 250,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in November. The monthly averaged price became to 246,600 yen. The official price is at the highest level in 25 years approaching record 280,000 yen marked on April 1, 1981, when zinc spot price at London Metal Exchange increased by US$ 40.5 to record US$ 1,765 per tonne at settlement on Tuesday from Monday.LME lead price surged by more than 20% in these 4 weeks. There seems no special factor to stimulate the market other than entering the demand season for battery. LME lead price is pushed up by speculative purchasing rather than by actual supply-demand balance, following strong trend of LME zinc price which stays at the record high level.