The opening of the import window in China's zinc market kept premiums stable in the country while the rest of Asia was experiencing a wide backwardation. Meanwhile, lead premiums in India went up amid a reduction in supply from Iran.
Chinese zinc import window remains open. Italian zinc premiums and Indian lead premiums move up. US market quiet after holidays.Chinese zinc import window opens to low interestThe cif Shanghai zinc premium rebounded a week ago after the import window opened in late December, but the premium stabilized again this week when the import gain narrowed in line with the sharp fall in China's domestic spot zinc premium.Fastmarkets' latest assessment of the zinc premium, on a cif Shanghai basis, was $145-155 per tonne on Tuesday January 8. This was flat from the previous week after rising by $5 per tonne in line with the reopened arbitrage window.The premium for zinc bonded-warehouse ingots on the same day was $160-170 per tonne, unchanged since mid-December."The narrowing import gain and the sharp fall in the domestic spot zinc premium are damping the import interest," a Shanghai-based trader said. "We heard offers for duty-free...