Japan Official Zinc Price Hits Record at 514,000 yen/t

Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Wednesday the firm raised official zinc ingot price by 16,000 yen to 514,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in October. The price increased by around 17% within this month and exceeded the record on October 13 thanks to the high zinc market at overseas. The monthly averaged price became to 489,400 yen.Zinc spot price at London Metal Exchange continued to surge by US$ 88.5 to US$ 3,969.5 per tonne at settlement on Tuesday from the previous day. Zinc inventory held by LME decreased by 1,325 tonnes to 127,400 tonnes on Tuesday from the previous day, which became to one third from the beginning of 2006. Reflecting the supply tightness, LME settlement price approached record US$ 3,990 on May 11.