Chinese and European zinc premiums fell over the past week amid lackluster demand and disappointing spread structures between the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange, while the Indian lead premium slid after increased availability of Iranian units in the spot market.
The zinc premium in China moved down amid muted import demand in line with worsening import conditions and an oversupplied domestic spot market. The Northern Europe zinc premium continued to decline to its lowest level since 2009. Only hand-to-mouth spot purchase is seen in European market.The Indian secondary-lead premium narrowed down this week to reflect the return of Iranian units ahead of Nowruz.US markets stable with industry sources reporting solid demand.Asian zinc market quiet with cif Shanghai premium down slightly amid high import loss The 99.995% purity zinc premium fell to $125-135 per tonne cif Shanghai on Tuesday March 12, down from $130-140 per tonne on March 5 on a higher import loss.The Shanghai bonded-warehouse zinc premium stayed at $140-150 per tonne on Tuesday March 12, with very few offers and no deals reported over the week.The loss for importing refined zinc into China has...