Zinc prices on LME hit over 10-year high

Kolkata: Zinc prices zoomed on the benchmark London Metal Exchange (LME) touching $3,400 per tonne, the highest since August 2007, while MCX prices hovered near record highs in Tuesday's session.

Kaynat Chainwala, Research Analyst Base Metals Angel Commodities Broking said: "LME zinc inventories stand at 10-year lows of 1,80,250 tonnes, thereby igniting market tightness concerns further. Shanghai inventories too have been on a downward spiral and have plunged by more than 50% since 2016."

Chinese import trend in the second half of 2017 has also been quite supportive for the metal after a disappointing first half. Chinese refined zinc imports zoomed 119 per cent to 3,95,021 tonnes in the months following July 2017, following a miserable 1,80,432 tonnes in January-June 2017.


Already, Zinc markets are expected to witness a shortfall in 2018 and improved demand prospects from China will fuel the tightness concerns further, the analyst said.