Premiums for zinc and lead ingots were unchanged in a week where prices hit multi-year highs for both metals.
The price of zinc continues to ratchet up, with the London Metal Exchange's three-month zinc contract peaking at $3,432 per tonne on Friday January 19, its highest point since July 2007. Similarly, the LME's three-month lead price gained to $2,616 per tonne on Wednesday January 24, its highest since July 2011.But as prices rise fueled by bullish investor sentiment and a mined deficit that is eating into concentrate treatment charges, premiums remain flat at relatively low levels."This zinc shortage story is two years [old] already, but I never had any difficulty in finding material - even big quantities, especially big quantities," a European trader said.Prices hitting multi-year highs have consistently dissuaded consumers from dipping into the spot market, with a potential downturn always around the corner and analysts such as Macquarie expecting prices to come off later this year."It's a bad time of year because everyone has filled their boots before Christmas,...