Japan Official Lead Price Down to 343,000 Yen/t

Mitsubishi Materials announced on Monday the firm revised down the official lead ingot price by 41,000 yen to 343,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in December. The official price hit the lowest since June 2007 when overseas lead market maintained weak due to the easier global supply. The monthly average would be 353,800 yen without any more revision within December.Lead settlement at London Metal Exchange rebounded by US$ 69.5 to US$ 2,675 per tonne on Friday from Thursday last week. However, LME lead settlement was lower by US$ 375 than US$ 3,050 on 3 December along which Mitsubishi Materials previously revised the domestic official price. Consequently Japanese official price was widely revised down.LME lead settlement turned weak after hitting record US$ 3,980 per tonne on 15 October, 2007. Lead shipment from Australian producer is expected to recover soon and LME lead price sharply declined.