Factbox: The vital statistics of lead

LONDON (Reuters) - Supply constraints and solid demand will push lead prices higher in the months ahead despite near-term worries over the impact on demand from a crackdown on lead-acid battery makers in top consumer China.

Following are some key facts about the global lead market:

INVENTORIES

Stocks of lead held in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses are close to recently-touched 16-year highs. Data on Monday showed them standing at 323,050 tonnes.

Their latest increase began in April. In October 1994, they reached a record high of more than 370,000 tonnes following the break-up of the former Soviet Union.

PRICES

The LME three-month lead price traded around $2,475 a tonne around 1200 GMT on Monday from Friday's close of $2,432.

The market has gained more than 180 percent since hitting $850 a tonne in December 2008, fears arose that economic recession could turn into a 1930s style depression.

Lead hit a three-year high of $2,904 a tonne in mid-April before tumbling 20 percent weeks later as expectation of a jump in emergency battery generator demand in Japan, following the March earthquake there, was offset by falling automobile output.

In October 2007, lead reached an all-time high of $3,890 a tonne.

LEAD PRODUCTION

The world's top lead mine producing countries in 2010 were as follows:

1. China - 1.851 million tonnes

2. Australia - 583,000 tonnes

3. United States - 372,000 tonnes

4. Peru - 260,000 tonnes

5. Mexico - 182,000 tonnes

World production of mined lead totaled 4.134 million tonnes in 2010.

The world's top refined lead producing countries in 2010 were as follows:

1. China - 4.199 million tonnes

2. United States - 1.256 million tonnes

3. Germany - 405,000 tonnes

4. South Korea - 321,000 tonnes

5. India - 313,000 tonnes

World production of refined lead totaled 9.572 million tonnes in 2010.

CONSUMPTION

Lead consumption has held better than that for most industrial metals, because of the importance of recession-proof demand for replacement batteries.

Replacement batteries account for about 40 to 50 percent of global lead demand.

The top five lead consuming nations in 2010 were as follows:

1. China - 4.213 million tonnes

2. United States - 1.445 million tonnes

3. South Korea - 382,000 tonnes

4. Germany - 342,000 tonnes

5. India - 312,000 tonnes

World lead consumption totaled 9.581 million tonnes in 2010.

The main end-uses for lead are as follows:

1. Batteries - 80 percent - mainly cars, also industrial uses

2. Sheet - 6 percent - roofing

3. Lead compounds - stabilizers for plastics

4. Lead alloys - specialist alloys

5. Cable sheathing - power cables (mainly underground)

6. Miscellaneous - includes radiation shielding, balancing weights.

MARKET BALANCE

The global lead market was in surplus by 24,000 tonnes in the first quarter of the year, the Lisbon-based International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) said last month.

In April, the ILZSG boosted its forecast for surplus global refined lead production for 2011 to 123,000 tonnes from its previous view of around 90,000.

A Reuters survey carried out in January forecast a lead market surplus of 5,000 tonnes this year.

Sources: ILZSG, Reuters