铅价升至11个月高点

By Javier Blas in London

铅价昨日升至11个月高点，原因是继一系列铅中毒事件之后，中国政府展开了全行业整顿，更多的铅冶炼厂被关停。

Lead prices rose to an 11-month high yesterday as more Chinese smelters shut amid an industry-wide clampdown by Beijing following incidents of lead poisoning.

中国是全球最大的铅生产国和消费国，这种有毒金属用于制造汽车电池。

China is the world's largest producer and consumer of the toxic metal used to manufacture car batteries.

随着中国政府扩大对冶炼厂污染控制措施的检查，陕西省的冶炼厂关停现象目前可能要扩大到湖南和广西两省。

The smelter shutdowns in Shaanxi province now threaten to extend to Hunan and Guangxi provinces as authorities widen checks on pollution controls at the plants.

“检查结果将在几天内出来，”湖南一家冶炼厂的官员向路透社(Reuters)表示。他补充称，铅冶炼厂是否被关停，将取决于检查结果。

“The result of the checks will come in another few days,” a smelter official in Hunan told Reuters, adding that possible closures of lead smelters would depend on the findings.

东方汇理银行(Calyon)驻伦敦的高级金属分析师罗宾·巴尔(Robin Bhar)表示，中国已有约40万吨的铅冶炼产能——几乎相当于全球产量的5%——被强行无限期关闭，因为“它们不符合国家环保标准”。

Robin Bhar, a senior metal analyst at Calyon in London, said about 400,000 tonnes of smelting capacity – equal to almost 5 per cent of global production – have been forced to shut indefinitely in China because “they did not meet national environmental standards”.

在伦敦金属交易所(LME)，3个月交割的期铅价格升至每吨2068美元的盘中高点，创下去年9月份以来的最高水平。

On the London Metal Exchange, lead for delivery in three months rose to an intraday high of $2,068 a tonne, its highest since last September.

在尾盘交易中，铅价上涨2.7%，至每吨2055美元。在前一个交易日，铅价飙升了6.8%。

In late trade, lead rose 2.7 per cent to $2,055 a tonne. Lead prices surged 6.8 per cent the previous day.

“就基本面而言，铅市场是最稳定的市场之一，供需大体平衡，全球库存水平相对较低，”巴尔表示。

“The lead market is fundamentally one of the tightest, with supply and demand roughly balanced and global inventories relatively low,” Mr Bhar said.

在近来汽车销量大幅增长的推动下，铅价已较1月份的每吨980美元上涨了110%。

Lead prices have surged 110 per cent from $980 in January helped by the recent surge in car sales.

分析师表示，冶炼厂关停将推高中国进口，特别是在铅消费呈现季节性回升的第四季度。

Analysts said the smelters' closure will push China to import more, particularly in the fourth quarter when the seasonal upswing in consumption gets underway.

译者/功文