Zinc to Hit $3,000 per Ton by 2016: Credit Suisse

The Financialist reported that zinc is currently trading at a three-year high of $2,327 a ton on the London Metal Exchange, also noting that Credit Suisse sees its price jumping to $3,000 per ton by 2016.

As quoted in the market news:

The lofty price isn’t for a lack of zinc concentrate, the intermediary product made from zinc ore that is then used to make the metal. Credit Suisse estimates that there’s currently a worldwide surplus of 290,000 metric tons of the stuff. The problem is actually lackluster production at the refineries that turn concentrate into metal. Chinese refineries, which produce more than 40 percent of the world’s refined zinc, are only operating at an average of 72 percent capacity. And that is contributing to an expected shortage of 720,000 metric tons of refined zinc this year.

Click here to read the full report from The Financialist.