Japan Official Zinc Price Turns to Decrease

Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced on Wednesday the firm decreased official zinc ingot price by 20,000 yen to 432,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in July. The price was revised down for the first time in a month due to the decline of overseas zinc market. The monthly averaged price became to 432,300 yen.Zinc spot price at London Metal Exchange continued to decrease by US$ 95 to US$ 3,320 per tonne at settlement on Tuesday from the previous day. The price was cheaper by US$ 245.5 from July 11 along which Mitsui Mining & Smelting previously revised Japanese official zinc price. LME zinc price was depressed by the weak tone over other nonferrous metals such as copper and nickel.Japanese official zinc ingot price marked record 465,000 yen per tonne on June 1, which increased by 73% from the beginning of the year. The price declined to 379,000 yen on June 21 when LME zinc price turned to the sharp decrease. In July overseas nonferrous metals market firmly rebounded led by nickel and the official price recovered to 452,000 yen on July 12.