Japan Official Lead Price Drops Down

Mitsubishi Materials announced on Monday the firm revised down the official lead ingot price by 37,000 yen to 310,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in March. The latest price lowered by 10% from the previous revision on 17 March and hit the yearly bottom since 24 January to reflect drop down at overseas lead market. Monthly average would be 350,400 yen without any more revision within March, which downed by 11,100 yen from the previous revision.Lead spot price at London Metal Exchange was US$ 2,650 per tonne at settlement on 20 March, down by US$ 170 from the previous day. LME lead settlement was US$ 3,111 on 14 March along which Mitsubishi Materials previously revised the official lead ingot price.Telegraphic transfer selling rate was 100.86 yen per US dollar on 24 March. Yen weakened by more than 2 yen against US dollar compared with 17 March. However, domestic official lead price was revised down at the widest range in 2008. The latest price is lower by 22% than the recent peak at 398,000 yen on 25 February.