This category will be of interest to customers dealing with lead and its alloys. Lead is a soft, heavy, and silvery white metal with a bluish cast. The metal is easy to mine and process, but it is toxic.
On the platform the companies introduce market primary lead ingots with a purity of 99.99% and refined lead ingots (99.97%) containing a small number of impurities. Besides, this category also includes remelted (secondary) lead ingots. Lead ingots with the impurities of no more than 0.015% are considered to be the highest quality product, which is not susceptible to the influence of aggressive environment and corrosion.
For the past two years, there has been a decline in lead manufacturing. In 2017, China produced 2.4 million tons, Australia (450,000 tons), USA (313,000 tons), and Peru (300,000 tons). Currently, China covers 49% of the world lead production. Today demand exceeds supply. The world lead production should increase to 4.8 million tons in 2019.
Due to its high corrosion resistance, lead is widely used in various industries. Mainly it is applied for accumulators and anti-corrosion sheaths of cables. Also, lead is required in chemical and metallurgical industries. The metal is used for the lining of pipelines and various equipment as well as insoluble anodes making.
The price of lead ingots varies. You can find $500-800 per ton as well as $1000-1500 and even $2000 per ton depending on the supplier, lead purity, and alloy or non-alloy ingots. One ingot weighs 25 or 50 kg. The minimum order starts from 1 ton. Lead is supplied in ingots as they are the best raw material for the rolled or cast products manufacture. The main suppliers in the current category are China, Germany, India, USA, and the UK.
