Japan Official Copper Price Up, Lead Down

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Tuesday the firm set the official copper ingot price at 980,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in July, revised up by 10,000 yen from the end of June. The latest price hit the highest since 22 October, 2007. Copper settlement price at London Metal Exchange jumped up to US$ 8,775.5 per tonne on 30 June, the highest since late April supported by the higher oil price and the weaker US dollar against other currencies. The upsurge of offshore copper price canceled the negative impact by stronger yen against US dollar.Mitsubishi Materials announced on Tuesday the firm set the official lead ingot price at 228,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in July, revised down by 13,000 yen from the end of June. The latest price hit the yearly bottom since 16 June to reflect weak lead price at overseas. LME lead settlement declined by US$ 60.5 to US$ 1,735.5 per tonne on 30 June from the previous day. The market was weak when LME lead inventory exceeded 100,000 tonnes for the first time in late 2 years. LME lead price halved from the recent peak at US$ 3,460 in March.Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Tuesday the firm set the official zinc ingot price at 245,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in July, unchanged from the end of June. LME zinc settlement was US$ 1,875 per tonne on 30 June, along which the firm set the latest official price.