What is going on with lead?

[wulimaster]

I was looking at commodities the other day and noticed that almost all of the metals had recovered their inventory levels to past highs and above now that the prices have dropped on energy. The metals prices are also depressed several times as the market is still not there for them.

One metal though still depressed in price has not had the huge increase in inventory that the other metals have had even though its main use has depressed quite a lot, that metal is lead. Its inventory levels are at their lowest. Since car batteries comprise the major use for lead, anyone have any inside information on why the supply is so low?

I thought the ammo companies might be stockpiling during this period of low prices since there is still high demand for ammo.

Any insider theories?

 

[Chris142]

Hazardus material? We used to sell it. Now we have to pay to have it hauled off.

 

[Boomer]

Ammo is in short supply because of miltary demand for certain calibers and types. Also, hybrid vehicles may be using some?
Circuit boards in the form of solder?

And don't forget that in the far East, lead is heavily used for plastic ctabilizers, paint, jewelry, etc as American consumers have found out. It is legal there.

 

[bruce381]

lead ammo selling is all time high due to obama and the coming ammo bans

 

[Mustang2008Z]

Lead is used by Castrol for their oil products. Maybe that is why they sell some of their products at a higher cost, so their profit margin is higher....My opinion....MSDS from Castrol shows that they use Lead in all of their products. Since Lead cost less to add to their product....My opinion....

 

[Billy_D]

The price of lead hit a high close to $1.75 between June 2007 and December 2007. Now, the spot price on Feb 06 2009 was $0.5284. The current price reflects the real economic conditions and the low demand from manufacturers. Most of the time, the price of commodities can be explained by the law of demand and supply. But sometimes the demand is inflated by speculation in the futures market, like people speculating about the coming Ammo Ban that did not come yet.

 

[Gary Allan]

I guess I'll hold on to the lead pigs I have left over from when I delivered nuke meds. Back then getting $0.26/lb was doable only due to the weight I moved (like 1200# at a time).

 

[ksJoe]

Originally Posted By: Boomer
Circuit boards in the form of solder?


Not much since RoHS. They can't use it anymore.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Boomer
Also, hybrid vehicles may be using some?


Nope, NiMh only, lead was in EV1 but not in hybrid.

 

[moribundman]

People nibble lead paint off their cheap pencils. Buy Faber-Castell (Sanford) and Mars-Staedtler, they are lead-free.

 

[Kestas]

I wanted to use lead flashing when doing my roof two years ago, but the cost was prohibitive. Lead is so easy to work with when doing roofing, and lasts almost forever.

 

[Samilcar]

Originally Posted By: ksJoe
Originally Posted By: Boomer
Circuit boards in the form of solder?


Not much since RoHS. They can't use it anymore.


Yep. While lead solder still might be legal in some places, none of our customers will purchase any electronic equipment unless it's ROHS (no lead) compliant.

 

[Pablo]

Our customers insist on eutectic Sn/Pb solder.

 

[calvin1]

I choose my solder and insecticides the same way: whichever package has the longest warning label.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: calvin1
I choose my solder and insecticides the same way: whichever package has the longest warning label.


How I miss my Diazanon

 

[calvin1]

Yeah, if I had to actually work with either on a daily basis I might be less cavalier. But then I'd probably be able to work up enough finesse to use the wussier stuff.

 

[bruce381]

Originally Posted By: calvin1
I choose my solder and insecticides the same way: whichever package has the longest warning label.


LOL I do the same
bruce

 

[Papa Bear]

My old boss must have a huge supply of lead....

.. he was always telling me to get the lead out.

 

[jsharp]

All of our product is still Sn/Pb solder. Our industry is one of the exemptions. Some of our customers have requested RoHS compliance but in industrial and high reliability applications tin/lead is still used extensively.

 

[mpvue]

I worked at a company a few yrs back that made high voltage power supplies. no solder except lead based would work; all the other options we experimented with would short and arc like crazy.
high voltage soldering is very tricky, you have to form a nice rounded bubble on the connection, no sharp edges. the compliant stuff just wouldn't work reliably.