Sources in the scrap lead battery market predict an aggressive export market would continue as a major issue in 2020, but some saw a measure of price relief coming early next year.

They see as a factor a falling LME lead price, which could prompt exporters to lower their bids for the scrap units and take some pressure off domestic smelters to match the high numbers.

“If the LME lead price remains low, can exporters sustain buying at those numbers?” a smelter source said. “At some point they have to do what would make sense economically. It costs them money to get the batteries over there.”

Domestic smelters and battery makers say they have increasingly struggled to…