Japan Official Zinc Price Up, Lead Down

Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Thursday the firm raised the official zinc ingot price by 11,000 yen to 482,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in April. The price hit the highest since 502,000 yen on January 25, 2007 thanks to the upsurge of overseas zinc market. The monthly average upped to 463,200 yen.Zinc spot price at London Metal Exchange soared up by US$ 170.5 to US$ 3,685.5 per tonne at settlement on Wednesday from Tuesday, which hit the highest in 3 months following the sharp increase of LME copper price. LME zinc settlement price rose by 20% from yearly bottom at US$ 3,050 on February 8.Mitsubishi Materials announced on Thursday the firm revised down the official lead ingot price by 6,000 yen to 277,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in April, when LME lead price became weak and became to less than US$ 2,000 per tonne for the first time in 2 weeks. The monthly average became to 277,400 yen.LME lead settlement price was US$ 2,000 per tonne on Wednesday, down by US$ 1 from Tuesday. The price weakened to US$ 1,990 at selling price in afternoon trading on Wednesday with cautiousness for higher price after the price sharply rose to record US$ 2,050 on Monday.