Japan Official Zinc Price Increases to 448,000 Yen/t

Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Friday the firm raised the official zinc ingot price by 18,000 yen to 448,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in April. The official price recovered the highest level in a month when zinc price surged up at London Metal Exchange supported by strong trend of other nonferrous metals. The monthly average upped by 14,400 yen to 444,400 yen per tonne.LME zinc settlement price increased by US$ 81.5 to US$ 3,402 per tonne on Thursday. The price was under gradual downtrend since mid March due to oversupply concerns. However, the price upped by approximately US$ 200 in first week of April when LME copper, nickel and lead prices sharply increased.Zinc inventory held by LME increased by 250 tonnes to 108,550 tonnes on Wednesday from Tuesday. LME zinc inventory expanded by more than 20,000 tonnes at Johore and Dubai in second half of March and the increase slowed down in April.