Higher Copper and Zinc Prices, Lower Lead Price in Japan

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Monday the firm reduced the official copper ingot price by 20,000 yen to 960,000 yen per tonne for October shipment. Mitsui Mining & Smelting increased the official zinc ingot price by 6,000 yen to record 520,000 yen per tonne for October shipment while Mitsubishi Materials reduced the official lead ingot price by 7,000 yen to 222,000 yen per tonne on the day. The averaged monthly official copper price decreased to 952,800 yen per tonne after the 5th price revisions. The price is changed frequently under volatile offshore market. Copper price was US$ 7,650 per tonne at settlement of London Metal Exchange on Friday, which was US$ 60 higher than US$ 7,590 on October 16 based on which Nippon Mining & Metals increased the official price by 30,000 yen per tonne. However, copper cash price in New York Mercantile Exchange was 344.45 US cents per pound, which was much lower than 365 US cents on October 16. Foreign exchange rate of yen, which was 119.72 yen per US dollar on Monday compared with 119.99 yen on October 16, also impacts negatively on Japanese official price. The official zinc ingot price renewed former record on October 18. The averaged monthly official price increased to 491,400 yen per tonne. LME zinc settlement price increased to record US$ 3,999 per tonne and the price reached US$ 4,000 in the afternoon session. The averaged official lead price decreased to 219,900 yen per tonne for October. The official price decreased for the first time since September 13. LME lead settlement price decreased by US$ 11 to US$ 1,524 per tonne on Friday from previous day after the price hit record US$ 1,594. With the record price, Japanese official price reached 25 years high at 229,000 yen per tonne.