MCX Lead Live Price Today

Quant's Today Trend score for MCX Lead is 7

* A trend score of greater than 5 signals that the commodity is bullish for the day while trend score of less than 2 signals bearish trend*

Lead is a soft, lustrous, and dense metal that is found in abundance in the Earth’s crust. It is highly malleable, ductile, and has a low melting point. A poor conductor of electricity. Highly resistant to corrosion and therefore is an essential component in battery production. It is one of the earliest metals that was discovered by humankind. It can absorb radiation well, and therefore it is preferred metal for many industries. It is used in many industries ranging from X-Rays to piping and roof material.

Production of lead:

Two methods of production are

1. Primary Production (Mining)
2. Secondary Production (Recycling)

Primary production

Mining involves extracting the metal from ores deep in the underground mines.

Many minerals contain lead, but the primary three minerals that are extracted commercially for lead production are

1. Galena, in its purest form, contains only sulfur and lead. It is the most common mineral that is extracted for production. The other traces of metals found in Galena are silver, copper, cadmium, antimony, arsenic.
2. Cerussite is also known as the White lead.
3. Anglesite occurs when Galena is oxidized

Most of the lead (approx 95%) is produced by extracting one of these minerals.

Ores that contain these minerals are usually rich in the deposits of other valuable metals such as zinc and silver. Therefore, it is often produced as a byproduct of mining zinc and silver.

There are three steps involved in the primary production of lead.

1. Ore Concentration: Ores of lead and zinc occurs together and often contain other precious metals like gold, silver and copper too. Therefore, the first step in the primary production is to separate the lead from the other metals.
2. Smelting: The lead particles are then mixed with other substance like lime and sandstone. This mixture is then heated at a high temperature, and it produces a brittle material called Sinter which is lead oxide, but it also contains zinc, iron and silicon oxides. The Sinter is then broken into pieces and add to the blast furnace along with coke fuel and is heated at the very high temperature. It further produces a molten lead.
3. Refining: It is commercially viable only when it is 99-99.99% pure. The molten lead produced is only 95% pure. Refining is done to remove the additional impurities to make it commercially viable. At this stage, it can either be generated in block or as an alloy for specific industrial uses.

Secondary production

Secondary production involves recycling of items containing lead. Almost 50% of the total lead produced is from recycled material.

Top 5 lead producing countries

• China
• Australia
• USA
• Peru
• Mexico

Top 5 countries having most lead reserves

• Australia
• China
• Russia
• Peru
• Mexico

Main Uses of Lead

• Batteries production: It is an essential component in the production of batteries due to its high resistance to corrosion and other unique chemical properties.
• Building Protective Shield: It is capable of absorbing electromagnetic radiation, and thus it is used to construct creative shields around X-ray equipment, Nuclear reactors, containers transporting radioactive material.
• Ammunition: It has significant usage in the ammunition industry for two reasons: i. Availability in abundance. ii. Its high ductility, malleability and density make it preferred metal in making bullets.
• Other Uses: It is extensively used as cable covering and roofing material. Lead oxide is used for the manufacturing of beautiful crystal glass.

Factors that drive the lead prices

• Chinese demand: China consumes the 40% of the total annual lead produced. The sudden growth in the Chinese economy has sparked the costs and consumption of many industrial commodities. Chinese power consumption data gives a clear indication about the future price of lead. Therefore, it should be closely watched by the traders.
• Global Stock Piles: The information on London metal Exchange about the stock of all the metals decides their price in the market. Surplus stocks have a negative impact on the price whereas the deficit of any metal can shoot its price high.
• Demand Outlook: Demand is a vital factor in determining the price of any commodity. As lead storage batteries are in high demand, and so is the metal. It makes the price high for this metal.

Reasons to invest in lead

• • Growing demand for automobile
• • Portfolio Diversification
• • Good bet against inflation and Weak US dollar

Risk of investing in a lead

• Health Concern: Many pieces of research have proven that it is toxic to the human body. The growing health concern may eventually lead people to switch to alternatives.
• Competing Technologies: Lithium-ion batteries are the leading competitors to lead-acid batteries as a power storage space. However, these lithium-ion batteries are expensive and do not work better in high power vehicles, but they have successfully replaced lead-acid batteries in many automotive applications.
• Global recession: the Global recession is another concern which might be a cause of worry to the prospective traders. The global slowdown will undoubtedly curb the demand and prices of many industrial commodities, including lead.

* Contract Launch Calendar Source MCXINDIA https://www.mcxindia.com/home