Statistics Indicate Japan Lead Industry May Hollow

Japanese governmental statistics indicate domestic lead market is sharply shrinking and hollowing. Domestic production of automotive batteries, the main application of lead, represented more than 50% year-to-year decrease in February and March. Domestic electrolytic lead production dropped by 45% in March from a year earlier. On the other hand, Japanese net export of lead is rapidly increasing.

According to the statistics by Ministry of Economy, Trade & Statistics, domestic production of car batteries decreased by 53.2% to 8,329 tonnes of lead in March from a year earlier. The total production of lead batteries was 13,586 tonnes, down by 38.6% year-to-year.

Domestic electrolytic lead production was 10,355 tonnes in March, down by 45.3% from a year earlier. The output hit the historically low level when Japanese major smelter entered seasonal maintenance and other smelters reduced the productions.

Japanese lead export is increasing despite of domestic smelters’ low supply. According to the trade statistics by Ministry of Finance, Japanese electrolytic lead export was 7,441 tonnes in March, 73% of which was bound for China. The export of electrolytic lead and lead-antimony alloy totaled 10,053 tonnes in March. The net export was as much as 9,085 tonnes consequently.

Japanese lead industry may change to the exporting industry if the domestic demand maintains stagnant for a long time and hybrid car demand grows up which doesn’t use lead batteries.