The past decade has seen some very significant changes in the supply and the demand for lead. One of the most obvious developments is the emergence of China—both as the world’s largest producer of primary lead and as a very significant consumer. Perhaps less obvious have been the increasing role of secondary lead in meeting demand for refined metal and the rapid growth in demand for industrial batteries, which have helped to sustain an annual average growth rate in Western World consumption of 3.4% between 1993 and 2000. Patchy knowledge about the lead industry in China has made it difficult to anticipate developments there and has created uncertainty in the global market. This uncertainty, and lead’s poor environmental image, largely undeserved as it may be today, has meant few companies outside the lead business want to be seen participating in it. This is just one factor accounting for the very limited increase in lead mine production for the foreseeable future. With around 75% of lead now being used in batteries and a very high global scrap recycling rate, it is probable that most, if not all, growth in lead demand can be met without an overall increase in mine production. The challenge for the lead industry will be to ensure that sufficient recycling capacity is in place in the right parts of the world to process an increasing quantity of battery and other lead-bearing scrap. Huge investment in the world’s telecommunications infrastructure and IT networks in the second half of the 1990s created a major market for industrial lead-acid batteries. With the collapse of the market for telecommunications equipment in 2001, lead consumption has fallen sharply and has revealed the extent to which demand growth in recent years has been dependent on this sector.