Lead price comes roaring back

Lead’s recovery from nine month lows continued on Tuesday with benchmark prices on the London Metal Exchange rising 1.5% to $2,380 a tonne ($1.08 a pound).

“Lead from a raw materials side is probably the tightest commodity market out there. There has been a big clamp down on Chinese private sector mining. China is around 60 percent of primary lead supply,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Colin Hamilton told Reuters.

Prices were likely to hit $2,640 in the third quarter according to BMO marking the investment bank as one of the most bullish on the outlook for the metal, mainly used in batteries. A FocusEconomics report published on Tuesday shows consensus forecast among analysts of $2,428 a tonne in Q3. Lead peaked in January this year at $2,643.

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