Japan Official Copper and Zinc Prices Revised Down

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Wednesday the firm revised down the official copper ingot price by 50,000 yen (5.3%) to 890,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in August. The latest official price hit the lowest since 870,000 yen announced on 27 March, 2008 and dropped down by 110,000 yen from the yearly highest 1 million yen marked on 3 July. The monthly average would be 897,100 yen without any more revision within August.Copper 3-month future price at London Metal Exchange was US$ 7,620 per tonne at the purchasing price in afternoon trading on 5 July. Copper spot price at New York Commodity Exchange was US 345.75 cents per pound on the same day. Both markets hit the bottom since early February of this year.Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Wednesday the firm revised down the official zinc ingot price by 15,000 yen to 235,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in August. The price declined to the lowest level in two and a half years to reflect weak offshore zinc market. The monthly average would be 237,100 yen without any more revision within August.LME zinc settlement downed by US$ 47 to US$ 1,750 per tonne on 5 July from the previous day, lower by US$ 156.5 compared with US$ 1906.5 on 31 July along which Mitsui Mining & Smelting previously revised the official ingot price. Zinc inventory held by LME has increased since the end of July. On 5 July, LME inventory exceeded 160,000 tonnes for the first time since September 2006.