Used lead price

[Leadlobber]

Why has the price of used lead increased so dramaticall?:brokenima

[Artful]

Demand

[-06]

Even my buds at the tire shop have gone to selling their scrap WWs. Some lady bought "MY" bucket full before I could pick them up.

[MtGun44]

Much more complicated. Three pressures, enviros closing US (& Aussy, I think)
mines and smelters, steady demand by industry and a bunch of union retirement
funds and other EXTREMELY large investor groups have decided to "make a play in
commodities market", so they are buying and holding all sorts of commodities.

It is complicated, but the buying and holding seriously distorts the markets for raw
materials because they are set up to have pretty much a straight pass-through function,
with a small amount "in play" to sop up modest extra supply when gets to the market
and supply modest extra demand when it is needed - these 'non end users' are the
"normal" speculators and provide liquidity and elasticity in the market - somewhat
damping out short term price swings. When large (huge) retirement funds with literally
billions and billions to "park" (invest) somewhere decide to move into commodities,
they buy and hold, which creates extra demand to fulfil their requirement to own
raw materials. Extra demand causes shortages, so the price goes up. These knuckleheads
see the price go up, so they buy more - lifting themselves by their own bootstraps.

The problem is that on the "other side" - when they want to sell, if they do in large
quantity, in a hurry, they can suddenly depress the price, whipsawing the raw materials
markets.

This effect has been driving part of the oil price runups, along with other commodities.

Bill

[Leadlobber]

I appreciate the replies, guys but now I'm sorry I asked! Bill, it looks to me like they're buying lead on ebay not the commodities market.

[cajun shooter]

That lady was there because her husband called and offered them a higher price than you were paying.
I agree with MtGun44 on the hows and whys. It shows some big faults with our system though. A group of investors should in no way be able to move the price of fuel so much. They have the money to pay the price and make millions off of the buying and selling of futures. It's the same thing that the big banks did that caused our economy to collapse. To show you how lopsided our entire financial structure is set up, just look at what happened to the banks. They caused the largest collapse since the great depression and then have the US Government bail them out so that they may stay afloat and jump start the economy. The only problem is that the money was handed over with no checks and balances. The banks decide to keep the money and put a straggle hold on the very people who bailed them out. Lead is being held by China for one. Lead will have a small piece of it in the musuem showing what bullets and WW's were made out of. There will be warning signs, Please Do Not Touch As This Metal Will Kill

[Cranium]

Take a look at these charts:
Lead Historical Data (http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/lead_historical_large.html)

These show that as MtGun44 already stated, there is an artificial growth in this market.

Silver also was being driven up in price artificially with demand. People thought it would be a good investment and as prices started increasing, more people bought to try to get in on the action. Well, it didn't work. In April, it peaked at $48.58/oz and then the bubble burst and prices started to drop. In May it dipped down to $33.49/oz. This was over a 30% drop in about 2 weeks. Bad year to invest in silver!

Lead may also be in its own bubble and may burst at some point. Prices have continued to increase since the beginning of 2009 and warehouse stock levels have also increased steadily since that time. There is about 325,000 tons of lead being warehoused currently, but that is just a small dent in the current worldwide usage of 10 million tons. Production is currently still ahead of the consumption and there is expected to be another 123,000 ton surplus this year. Futures are already showing a decline.

Also, look at this article:
Lead Smelters in China May Cut Output as Demand Slows, Regulation Tightens (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-03/lead-smelters-in-china-may-cut-output-as-demand-slows-regulation-tightens.html)

And this one:
Lead may plunge on China battery market regulations (http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Lead-may-plunge-on-China-battery-market-regulations-39593-3-1.html)

[bowfin]

Everybody is trying to build up a lifetime and a half stash, since no one does their plumbing, their roofing, their printing or their tire balancing with lead.

[XWrench3]

well, if the big shots are buying up lead as an investment, i hope they all smelt down into it. when the economy finaly dies, and it will, i wonder what they will do with all the lead they have been hording. it is going to be hard to trade for meat or bread! and none of them will have the foggiest idea of how to make boolits!

[geargnasher]

I'll trade bread for it, because I can make both bread and boolits. It may come to that.

Gear

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I'LL trade you a 2 pound loaf of bread for 3 pounds of lead , good bread also.

[singleshot]

Why has the price of used lead increased so dramaticall?:brokenima

I just bought about 100 lbs a couple weeks ago and paid $.80/lb. Didn't have time to mess with collecting b/c I had a whole lot of casting to do.

What do you consider expensive?

[Lizard333]

Free. Do I need to say more :-)

[singleshot]

Free. Do I need to say more :-)

Lizard, where do you get it free? Are you mining it yourself? Do you have a tire shop or remodeling business? Do you have a lead tree in your yard?

[Jim]

I get my WWs free, also. Not a lot, maybe a bucket every 6 months or so, but they are free.

[Baja_Traveler]

Why has the price of used lead increased so dramaticall?:brokenima

The Chinese are gearing up for xmas 2011 toy production - they need it for the paint & plastics... :roll:

[c3d4b2]

From what I have read, the devaluation of the US Dollar (quantitative easing) is leading to higher prices. The Dollar devaluation is also causing investors to purchase commodities in an effort to preserve their wealth. This increased demand is also causing the commodities prices to increase.

Both of these factors are causing the price of commodities to rise. The question is, how much of the price increase is due to the dollar devaluation and how much is due to demand?

One quick and dirty comparison would be to look at the price of lead in both Dollars and Euros. For a quick estimate lets compare the lead price for the beginning of June '10 with the beginning of June '11 in Dollars and Euros.

In Dollars


The price of lead was $0.75 per pound last June. Today the price of the lead was $1.16 which is a 54.7% increase.


In Euros


The price of lead was €0.62655 per pound last June. Today the price of the lead was €0.7933 which is a 26.6% increase.


From this comparison the lead price increase in dollars is about two times as much as the price increase in Euro. Or the price increase due to the devaluation of the dollar is approximately 28%.

[TCLouis]

China

India

[Lizard333]

Lizard, where do you get it free? Are you mining it yourself? Do you have a tire shop or remodeling business? Do you have a lead tree in your yard?

I don't pay a dime aside from my time and a little propane to melt them down. I get them from tire shops in various cities I work in. Just got ask and look needy. ;-)

[jimwill48]

I have family in the roofing business so I get a lot of pure lead from them (vent covers) some trimmings have tar on them put that just skims off. Just have to do my 1st smelt outdoors due to the smoke.

James

[MT Gianni]

Everybody is trying to build up a lifetime and a half stash, since no one does their plumbing, their roofing, their printing or their tire balancing with lead.

The home/hobby/small commercial market is such a small player in the lead commoditys we make no difference. It is less than the Federal excise tax of bicycle tires compares to the total tire tax.

[kostner]

Was at America's Tire Store this am and ask if they had ant lead wheel weights and was told they now use aluminum and that lead has been band in Commifornia for years. Haven't check to see if this is true but see how this *** state is run would not be surprised. People often get the government they deserve.