Japan Official Copper and Zinc Prices Decrease

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Thursday the firm decreased the official copper ingot price by 40,000 yen or 4.3% to 890,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in September. The official price became to less than 900,000 yen for the first time since 24 August and the latest price is the lowest since 860,000 yen on 21 August. The monthly average would be 896,600 yen without any more revision within September.The official copper price was raised by 10,000 yen on 3 September and revised down by 40,000 yen only after 3 business days. Copper spot price sharply declined to US$ 7,298 per tonne at London Metal Exchange on Wednesday. At New York Mercantile Exchange copper spot price was US 327.90 cents per pound on Wednesday, down by 3.9% or US 13.2 cents from the end of August.Mitsui Mining & Metals announced on Thursday the firm decreased the official zinc ingot price by 36,000 yen to 369,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in September. The official price hit the lowest since April 2006 to reflect the decline of overseas zinc market. The monthly average became to 375,000 yen.LME zinc settlement was US$ 2,930.5 per tonne on Wednesday, almost as flat as previous day. However, LME nonferrous metal markets totally weakened in afternoon trading impacted by the sharp decline of US stock market. LME zinc spot price downed to less than US$ 2,900 and hit the yearly lowest in afternoon.