Japan Official Cu and Zn Prices Unchanged, Pb Revised Up

Japanese nonferrous metal price indicators were set unchanged for copper and zinc while revised up for lead. Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Tuesday the firm set its electrolytic copper selling price at 640,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in September, unchanged from the end of August. Mitsui Mining & Smelting set its electrolytic zinc selling price at 215,000 yen per tonne. Mitsubishi Materials revised up its electrolytic lead selling price by 9,000 yen to 243,000 yen per tonne from the end of August.

Base metal prices were strong at London Metal Exchange on 28 August. LME copper spot purchasing price reached US$ 6,505 per tonne in afternoon trading. On the same day, copper spot price surged to 292.30 US cents per pound at New York Commodity Exchange. Both prices hit the highest since the end of September in 2008. LME lead settlement hit the yearly highest at US$ 2,118 per tonne. Zinc settlement was US$ 1,820 per tonne, up by US$ 2 from the previous day.

However, stronger yen exchange rate canceled these upsurges. The exchange rate entered the level as strong as 92-93 yen per US dollar on and after Monday. In addition, as to copper, COMEX spot price dropped to 280.80 US cents on Monday.