Zinc Price Continues to Falter

Mineweb reported that the price of zinc has failed to get a lift despite a zinc deficit created by ongoing zinc mine closures.

As quoted in the market news:

After short lived gains in early 2015, the price of zinc sank in the past week or so from near $1/lb to the low $0.90s/lb.

The recent weakness in zinc comes on anemic metals trading amid the Chinese New Year, which recently ended.

Likewise, signs of a slowing Chinese economy, have injured the metal’s price.

Patricia Mohr, Scotiabank’s commodity specialist, stated:

Of the four key base metals — copper, zinc, nickel and aluminium — zinc is holding up the best at US$0.93 per pound, though prices have edged down from US$0.985 in December.

Base metal prices have been undermined by the negative sentiment caused by the fall in oil prices and a slowing Chinese economy. China’s Purchasing Managers’ Index for Manufacturing slipped into contractionary mode in January (below the 50 mark), indicating declining activity in manufacturing.

Click here for the full Mineweb report