Material Insights · Understanding the Material World

Lead and Lead-acid batteries

Lead-acid batteries take about 85% of the world's refined lead, and the metal is recovered from scrap batteries so efficiently that most refined lead is now recycled. In India much of that recycling is informal, which keeps costs low but exposes workers and children to lead poisoning.

Lead (commodity) and Lead-acid batteries (energy): 4 relationships.

How they are linked

1. Material need: main use

Physical flow · Strong · Lead to lead-acid batteries

Both plates of a lead-acid cell are lead compounds, and car starter, inverter and backup batteries are by far the largest use of the metal.

  • about 85% lead-acid share of world refined lead demand
  • 67% lead-acid share of US apparent lead consumption, 2025

Because one product dominates, lead demand follows vehicle fleets, two-wheelers and backup power rather than general industry. The long-run risk is substitution by lithium cells in backup and starter uses.

Sources: USGS; Pure Earth / PAHLE India

2. Recycling loop

Physical flow · Strong · Spent batteries back to refined lead

Lead is easy to recover by smelting, and spent batteries are collected through the same dealers that sell new ones, so battery scrap is the main source of refined lead.

  • 4.5 vs 13.3 Mt world lead mine output against refined output, 2025
  • 70% secondary lead as share of US apparent consumption, 2025
  • 99% US lead battery recycling rate, data to 2018

World refined output is roughly three times mine output, which means most refined lead comes from scrap. This makes the lead price sensitive to scrap battery collection and smelter capacity as well as to mines. The loop works best where recyclers are regulated; elsewhere much of the metal passes through informal smelters.

Sources: USGS; Battery Council International

3. India: informal recycling and EPR

Policy · High in India · Recycling rules shape lead supply and health

In India most used batteries are recycled by informal smelters that avoid tax and pollution controls, and the Battery Waste Management Rules 2022 try to move this flow to registered recyclers through producer responsibility targets.

  • up to 90% of about 1.2 Mt of used lead-acid batteries a year recycled informally in India (estimate)
  • 90% collection target for automotive batteries from 2025/26 onwards under the 2022 rules
  • 18% GST on scrap batteries paid by formal recyclers

Informal operators can outbid formal recyclers for scrap because they pay no GST and spend little on emission control. Studies cited by PAHLE found children near recycling sites with blood lead levels as high as 190 µg/dL. Enforcing EPR credits shifts lead supply to formal smelters and raises the cost of recycled lead.

Sources: Pure Earth / PAHLE India

4. Price link: main use

Cost and price · Medium · Both ways

Battery makers pass metal costs on, but the US battery price index adjusts slowly and on its own schedule, so monthly moves show no link while yearly changes do.

  • -0.02 monthly change correlation
  • 0.43 12-month change correlation
  • 0.31 fitted elasticity

Lead is the main material in the battery, so a sustained lead price move shows up in battery prices over about a year. The elasticity of 0.31 suggests that a 10% rise in lead lifts the battery index by about 3%. Lead prices were stable in 2025: the North American price averaged 106 US cents a pound over the first ten months, 3% below the 2024 average.

Sources: USGS; Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data)

For investors

Key learnings

  1. Lead demand is essentially lead-acid battery demand, so vehicle fleet size, inverters and backup power drive the market.
  2. Most refined lead is recycled, so scrap collection and smelter capacity matter as much as mine supply for prices.
  3. In India, enforcing battery EPR rules would move scrap from informal to formal recyclers, raising the cost of recycled lead but securing more feed for formal smelters.

What to track

  • LME lead price: Sustained moves pass through to battery prices over about a year (Daily · LME)
  • Refined lead market balance: Surplus or deficit signals price direction (Monthly · International Lead and Zinc Study Group)
  • EPR credits generated by registered recyclers: Rising credits show scrap moving to the formal sector (Annual · Central Pollution Control Board)

For policymakers

Key learnings

  1. Informal lead recycling is a major source of child lead exposure in India, so battery waste enforcement is a public health measure.
  2. The 18% GST on scrap batteries gives informal recyclers a cost advantage; tax treatment is a lever for formalisation.
  3. Lead-acid batteries already have a near closed loop where collection is regulated, as the US recycling rate of about 99% shows.

What to track

  • Share of used batteries handled by registered recyclers: Measures progress of the 2022 rules (Annual · Central Pollution Control Board)
  • Blood lead levels in children: Tracks the health impact of recycling practices (Periodic · ICMR, state health surveys)

India

India mined about 220,000 tonnes of lead in 2025, but up to 90% of its roughly 1.2 Mt of used lead-acid batteries a year are estimated to be recycled informally.

Sources

  1. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Lead, USGS (2026)
  2. Understanding the used lead-acid battery recycling ecosystem in India, Pure Earth / PAHLE India (2024)
  3. Lead battery industry issues new national recycling rate study, Battery Council International (2019)
  4. Price correlation, Material Insights, Material Insights (World Bank, FRED, IMF data) (2026)