Page 41 from: September 2006
less, market experts expect copper
demand from Asia to increase con-
siderably during the remainder of
the year. In Germany, bright wire
scrap (Kabul) prices stood at US$
7400 per tonne in late August while
copper granules 1A (Kasus) were
trading at US$ 7520.
Lead & Zinc
During August, the LME three-
month lead price leapt from US$
1055 to around US$ 1203 per tonne.
Market experts had expected the lead
market to veer into oversupply much
sooner than the other base metals,
and so the recent upturn in prices has
taken them somewhat by surprise.
According to a UK trader, the sudden
rally in August was not a true reflec-
tion of market fundamentals.
Analysts believe the recent price
increases have been brought about
by the activities of the speculative
hedge funds. According to Stephen
Briggs of Société Générale, lead is
different to zinc, copper and nickel
because there is no danger of the
metal’s supply becoming short. Ac-
cording to the International Lead &
Zinc Study Group (ILZSG), world-
wide demand for lead will increase
only by around 2.4% this year.
In Germany, new soft lead prices
have risen from US$ 1227 to US$
1389 per tonne in recent weeks.
Lead scrap prices followed the trend
set by primary material, with soft
lead scrap (Paket) jumping some
US$ 100 per tonne to trade at US$
1007 in late August.
In the UK, soft lead scrap was re-
cently yielding US$ 672-690 per
tonne; in The Netherlands, mean-
while, both old lead and soft lead
were recently trading at US$ 1093 –
some US$ 150 per tonne above the
level of four weeks earlier.
According to market experts, zinc
market fundamentals are so sound
that the metal can be expected to re-
tain its high price levels for the re-
mainder of the year. LME three-
month high-grade zinc had risen
slightly to US$ 3293 per tonne by
late August. Market experts are an-
ticipating that zinc demand will in-
crease considerably over the coming
months. The zinc trade was fairly
quiet during the summer, they say,
and buyers took full advantage of
the lower prices that arose every
now and then. Currently, the supply
situation is causing some worries in
Europe.
In Germany, special high-grade
zinc was recently trading at US$
3677 while old zinc scrap was yield-
ing around US$ 2128 – some US$
100 per tonne more than a month
earlier.
M A R K E T A N A L Y S I S
Recycling International • September 2006 41
Lead
LM
E
st
oc
ks
(x
1
00
0
m
et
ri
c
to
nn
es
)
20
40
60
80
100
120
800
900
1000
1100
1200
1300
LM
E
pr
ic
es
(i
n
U
.S
. d
ol
la
rs
/M
T)
FEBR JUNEMAYAPR AUGSEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN SEPT
LM
E
st
oc
ks
(x
1
00
0
m
et
ri
c
to
nn
es
)
0
10
20
30
40
50
14.000
11.000
17.000
20.000
26.000
32.000
23.000
29.000
LM
E
pr
ic
es
(i
n
U
.S
. d
ol
la
rs
/M
T)
FEBR MAYAPR JUNE AUGSEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN SEPT
Nickel
MAY
Copper
LM
E
st
oc
ks
(x
1
00
0
m
et
ri
c
to
nn
es
)
0
50
100
150
200
250
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
LM
E
pr
ic
es
(i
n
U
.S
. d
ol
la
rs
/M
T)
JUNE AUGSEPT SEPTOCT NOV DEC JAN FEBR APR
Asia & Pacific Rim
Recycling International is currently in the process of establishing a long-
term replacement for Kumar Radhakrishnan of Simsmetal as author of the
non-ferrous market report for the Asia & Pacific Rim region.
RI_022 MA non-ferrous 04-09-2006 17:09 Pagina 41
