Berzelius Metall’s Berzelius Stolberg division has announced force majeure on lead metal shipments from its Stolberg smelter in western Germany as regional floods disturbed production last week. The flood was one of Germany’s worst natural disasters in more than half a century.
The company is unable to meet its contractual commitments to customers. The technical assessment, cleanup, and recovery efforts have begun and are anticipated to last several weeks prior to establishing a firm restart timeline.
The lead smelter has an annual capacity of near 155,000mt and is essential in the supply chain of many European battery producers. No immediate market impact is evident this week but due to tight lead demand conditions in Europe and the US markets, prices may firm up in the near future due to the supply disruption.
Berzelius Metall is part of the Ecobat group. Aurubis’ Stolberg copper products plant also stopped production due to flooding damage.