Japan Official Copper and Zinc Prices Plunge

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Tuesday the firm decreased official copper ingot price by 40,000 yen to 720,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in March. The latest price hit lowest since 710,000 yen on February 13. The monthly average became to 725,700 yen.The domestic copper ingot price turned to downtrend again when overseas copper markets plunged down and foreign exchange rate of yen sharply became stronger against US dollar. Some copper dealer sources are concerned the ingot price might decline to below yearly lowest at 690,000 yen on February 6.Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Tuesday the firm revised down official zinc ingot price by 39,000 yen to 417,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in March. The price hit lowest since July 25, 2006 due to weakening zinc market at overseas and stronger yen against US dollar.Zinc spot price at London Metal Exchange decreased by US$ 134 to US$ 3,231 per tonne at settlement on Monday from Friday. Commodity markets are impacted by global stocks downturn and LME zinc spot price declined by 9% in 2 trading days.