Japan Official Lead Price Returns to 3-Month Highest

Mitsubishi Materials announced on Monday the firm raised the official lead ingot price by 34,000 yen to 398,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in February. The latest price hit the highest in 3 months to reflect upsurge of overseas lead market. Monthly average would be 366,900 yen without any more revision within February.

Lead settlement at London Metal Exchange was US$ 3,284 per tonne on 22 February, increasing by US$ 239 from US$ 3,045 on 15 February along which Mitsubishi Materials previously revised the official lead price. Speculative funds are flowing into nonferrous metals as well as oil and gold markets. Lead price surged up on positive fundamentals when copper and aluminium prices also soared at LME.