Current pb price: $1909.00.
Lead Price History
Lead's all-time high near $3,890 per tonne dates to the 2007 supply squeeze and still stands by a wide margin. A battery-dominated demand base and persistent surpluses keep it rangebound near $2,000.
Price Chart
EmbedLead Price Records
Lead's 2007 record still stands; later peaks never came close. Prices are LME, USD per tonne.
All-Time High
~$3,890
October 2007 (LME cash record; some series show ~$3,989 intraday. Still stands in 2026.)
| Date | High (USD/tonne) | What Drove It |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2007Record | ~$3,890 | The all-time high: the suspension of Ivernia's Magellan mine, problems at Doe Run's Herculaneum smelter, Chinese smelter cutbacks and export-tax changes, and record-low LME stocks triggered a parabolic spike. |
| Apr 2011 | ~$2,900 | A post-financial-crisis recovery peak fueled by Chinese stimulus, restocking, and a broad base-metals rebound. |
| Feb 2018 | ~$2,680 | China's environmental crackdown forced primary and secondary smelter capacity offline, tightening refined supply as battery demand held firm. |
| Oct 2021 | ~$2,450 | The post-COVID energy crisis curbed European and Chinese smelter output, squeezing supply during the global restocking rebound. |
| May 2024 | ~$2,300 | A broad base-metals rally on US rate-cut hopes and a softer dollar briefly lifted lead before surpluses pulled it back below $2,100. |
The exact 2007 record varies by measure (LME cash near $3,890, some intraday series near $3,989, monthly average near $3,720). All sources agree it was set in October 2007 and still stands, with prices in 2026 roughly half the peak. Prices are nominal USD per tonne.
Data Methodology
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All-Time High
Lead Price Through the Decades
Lead is one of the oldest traded industrial metals, and for most of the 20th century into the early 2000s it was a cheap commodity tied to lead-acid batteries (and, earlier, gasoline additives and paint pigments), trading largely between roughly $400 and $1,200 per tonne. That changed with the 2000s commodities supercycle, when Chinese industrialization lifted every base metal. Lead more than doubled in 2006 as smelter closures and shrinking LME inventories began to bite.
The defining episode came in 2007. A combination of supply shocks (the suspension of Ivernia's Magellan mine in Australia and problems at Doe Run's Herculaneum smelter in the US), Chinese smelter cutbacks alongside export-tax changes, and historically low LME stocks drove a parabolic spike. Lead hit its all-time high in October 2007, commonly cited at about $3,890 per tonne. The 2008 financial crisis then crushed it nearly 75% to roughly $960 by December 2008.
The metal recovered with Chinese stimulus to about $2,900 in April 2011, then drifted lower through the mid-2010s downturn, bottoming near $1,600 in early 2016. It rebounded to about $2,680 in 2018 on China's smelter crackdowns, dipped in the 2020 COVID shock, and recovered to roughly $2,450 during the 2021 energy crisis. Since 2022 it has been notably rangebound, mostly $1,900 to $2,200 per tonne, held down by persistent surpluses and soft Chinese demand. As of mid-2026, lead trades around $1,900 to $1,960 per tonne, roughly half its 2007 record, which still stands by a wide margin. See the live chart above for the current price.
Data provided by MetalCharts, a free precious metals tracking platform offering real-time prices, interactive charts, historical data, and portfolio tools for gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper. Prices sourced from major global exchanges including COMEX, LBMA, and LME, updated continuously during market hours.
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