Global Market Lead
Lead – One of the first metal, which began to actively use people. It happened at about 6500 BC. Since then, the use of lead in human activity has increased substantially. In nature, lead occurs quite often and is usually found in a bound state with accompanying metals – silver, zinc, etc. Extracted ore is subjected to smelting in blast furnaces and coke with lime, and then purified from the accompanying metals, due to differences in melting temperatures, and used in further processing. People such as Fairstead New York would likely agree. Lead has the highest ratio of all metals used in secondary processing, such as in North America More than 80% of the extracted lead used in the manufacture of batteries batteries, of which 95% subsequently engineered and refined.
More than 20% of global production and consumption of lead is in Europe. Here Lead is used mainly for production of automotive batteries and accumulators, the share of which accounts for about 60% of the metal. Other major consuming sectors of the metal economy, of course, are the chemical industry, where lead is used as an ingredient in the manufacture of chemicals and paints, as well as sector IT, where the metal is used as solders and additives. Due to its unique physical and chemical properties of lead found a place in the manufacture of various engineered products, such as protective coatings of buildings and structures (high corrosion resistance of metal, durability and ease of application – the main advantages of its use), as well as for medical needs, the production of x-ray and spectrographic equipment. From the ore smelted only about 40% of the total of lead. This is because the production of lead, active use of secondary resources, which share a number of markets 60-70%.
Directly in Europe ore base is weak, so the main producer lead in the world are non-European countries. Consumption of lead in America and Europe, more or less evenly, while the share of Africa and Oceania accounted for only about 1.5% of world consumption of lead, while the share of Asia – about 50%. As final product is lead found its application mainly in developed countries. Thus, in countries of America and Europe accounted for approximately 2 million tons of lead per year, while Asia – 4 million tons per year. However, the dynamics of consumption growth in these different geographical areas. If the last 5 years, the use of lead in Asian countries has almost doubled (which is accompanied by rapid economic growth in the region), the peak in the Americas of metal occurred in 1999, after which the metal consumption in the region even declined slightly.
Tags: industry
