# Lead: Trading

Exchange prices plus a premium for physical metal

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/trading/

What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.

Refined lead is priced on the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange, and India trades it on MCX. Physical lead sells at the exchange price plus a regional premium. The North American price averaged about 106 cents per pound in 2025 (USGS). Concentrate is sold to smelters at the metal price less treatment charges, often with silver credits. Spent batteries form their own traded market. Secondary smelters buy them as feedstock, and scrap dealers and traders move them across borders.

#### Where it is bought (buyers)

- Battery makers in China, India, the US and Europe buy refined lead and alloys (India and the US were the top two importers in 2024)
- Smelters in China, South Korea and Japan buy lead concentrate from Peru, Mexico, the US and Australia
- Secondary smelters buy spent batteries from dealers and scrap traders, domestically and across borders

#### Where it is sold (sellers)

- Zinc-lead miners in Peru (21.7% of 2024 concentrate exports), Mexico (19.9%), the US (16.3%) and Australia (11.2%)
- Refiners and recyclers in India, South Korea, Australia and the UK export refined lead
- Battery collectors and scrap traders sell used batteries

#### Exchanges and benchmarks

| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **LME** | Lead, 25 t lots, min 99.97% Pb | Global reference price |
| **Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE)** | Lead, 5 t lots, CNY | Chinese domestic reference |
| **MCX (India)** | Lead futures, INR | Used by Indian battery makers and recyclers to hedge |

#### Contract types

- Annual or spot concentrate contracts: metal value minus treatment charge, plus silver credits
- Refined lead on term contracts at LME or SHFE average plus regional premium
- Spent battery purchases priced as a discount to the refined lead price

#### Top trading houses

- Glencore
- Trafigura
- IXM

#### How prices are discovered

- LME official prices
- S&P Global Platts North American lead price (used by USGS)
- Fastmarkets and SMM assessments of premiums, treatment charges and battery scrap

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/cycles/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/lead/links/index.md)