Zinc Price Up 14 Percent Since Start of 2016

The Financial Times reported that zinc has risen over 14 percent since the start of 2016, putting its performance behind only that of iron ore and gold. Furthermore, since hitting a seven-year low of $1,460 per tonne midway through January, the base metal has jumped 25 percent.
As quoted in the market news:

But the price rally could fade in the short term before tightness in the concentrate market spills over into the refined metal market, according to Vivienne Lloyd, an analyst at Macquarie.
“Recent price strength is likely to fade back to $1,600/t or lower while we await real metal tightness, which still feels a few months away at this stage,” she said.
It remains to be seen when that will emerge. China’s imports of refined zinc fell 40 per cent in January compared with the previous month, according to Standard Chartered.
“In the near-term, we think China’s refined imports will fall, in turn alleviating the size of the deficit in the ex-China refined market,” the bank said.

Click here to read the full Financial Times report.