Lead Scrap Price Keeps Flat in Tokyo

Market price of lead scrap keeps flat around Tokyo at 105-115 yen per kilogram for high grade scrap, 65-70 yen per kg for electrode plate scrap, 95-105 yen per kg for typographic lead scrap and 55-65 yen per kg for low grade scrap. The market price sustains the level even though Japanese official lead ingot price is expected to be revised down on 1 July. Scrap dealers cannot decrease the purchasing price with less scrap supply. On the other hand, the price range is wide in the market.Lead settlement price at London Metal Exchange was US$ 1,796 per tonne on 27 June, down by US$ 74 from US$ 1,870 on 20 June along which Japanese official ingot price was previously revised. After 23 June, Japanese yen became relatively strong against US dollar. With these factors, Japanese official ingot price is expected to be revised down by around 10,000 yen per tonne on 1 July.However, a scrap dealer source said they cannot procure enough volume of lead scrap at cheap price. Some of secondary lead smelters are purchasing lead scrap at the price as high as 140-145 yen per kg. On the other hand, some smelters don’t pay high price above 140 yen since they have no supply quota.