Lead (Pb) price continues skyrocketing

Probably demand from developing countries, same old story.

I'm happy to see it, I've probably got a quarter ton of lead scrap, maybe half a ton ..

Grant

Yup.... Try going to the firing range.... We have been selecting "semi" rather than "full" (Now mostly "Safe" because all the stuff is indeed locked in the safe for quite some time now). A day at the range can easily break the $1,000.00 mark and it's 5.56, 7.62, 9 and mm and .50BMG and pistol calibers It's cheaper to throw my Barrett rather than fire the damned thing. When we order ammo the prices actually do vary daily. Copper, lead and brass are just plain crazy. A 1000rd case of surplus 5.56 is easily $250.00 plus shipping. Five years ago it was half the price. You can hear the crickets chirp on most days out there.

Rob

Well, Chris Rock did opine, during one show, that the solution to gun violence was to simply charge $5,000 per bullet. To quote: "Muhfuggahs be thinkin twice, befo bus'in a cap in a muhfugga's ass...."

Is Rock a commodities prophet, as well?

Now ammo is about 2x more expensive... Wow...

i

Here is part o reason from Bloomburg News:

Lead Supply

Lead increased $102, or 3.6 percent, to $2,962 at ton, the highest ever. The metal, used in car batteries, has been boosted by a shortage of concentrate, the raw material shipped to smelters, GFMS Metals Consulting's Buxton said.

UBS, in a report yesterday, said lead will average $1.02 a pound ($2,249 a ton) in 2007, 31 more than its previous forecast, citing supply concern.

Ivernia Inc. suspended exports from the Magellan mine on March 12 because of an investigation into lead poisoning, reducing supplies of concentrate. The Australian mine previously accounted for about 3 percent of global mined output. The company shipped most of its production to China, the world's largest lead consumer and producer.

Ivernia will seek approval to ship containers of lead from the port of Fremantle, so it can reopen Magellan, Patrick Scott, managing director of Magellan Metals Pty, a unit of Ivernia, said July 7.

China imposed a 10 percent tax on exports of refined lead from June

1. That may curb supply to international markets, UBS said. The second half of each year typically features increases in demand from car-battery producers, according to the bank.

Paul

I don't know what the answer is, but it sucks if you are the consumer.

124 gr FMJ 9mm bullets have gone from $42 per thousand delivered 6 months ago to $51 per thousand delivered last month. Primers are up to around $90/5000 compared to $65 a year ago. Cases have doubled+, and powder is up about 25%. IPSC never was a cheap hobby, but now the price of components is starting to HURT.

Bill

Could President Bush be perpetrating the equivalent of Regan's "Star Wars" program?

More than 6x the price it was 5 years ago. Wow. Maybe it's all the demand from China for lead acid batteries, plus the sinking USD. And that's even without a drastically soaring yuan (and rupee they'll be asking for soon, no doubt).

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Spehro, you said the magic word and won a duck!

If you spend more money for the same stuff then all that happens is that your money becomes worth less.

The real estate market is famous for this kind of wealth. Or - was?

for what it's worth.

Richard

Just went through this drill last month. They still only will give you 6-7 cents /lb for scrap at the yard, probably battery lead price. I've inherited a large amount of lead and wheel weights myself. Worth much more than that to me cast as shotgun slugs and handgun bullets! I'll be getting around to that after this 90-100 degree stuff passes. May be a few weeks the way the weather's been, though.

Stan

The obvious consequence of which is a thriving black-market trade in stolen ammunition, and a *rise* in gun violence because the law-abiding can't afford to buy ammo to defend themselves (while the predators will simply steal to get theirs).

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