US zinc secondary alloys prices inched up by a penny on Tuesday as demand remained stable and LME Zinc cash offers trended flat.
LME Zinc cash offers closed at $1.28/lb on Tuesday unchanged from last week while the official three-month LME Zinc contract also trended flat settling at $2,830/mt compared to $2,833/mt on Mar 30.
The weekly Davis Index for Zamak #2 increased by 1¢/lb to $1.505/lb delivered US consumer while both Zamak #3 and Zamak #7 increased by the same amount to $1.475/lb delivered. Zamak #5 inched up by 0.5¢/lb at $1.485/lb delivered.
ZA 8 and ZA 12 increased by a cent for the second successive week settling at $1.525/lb delivered and $1.545/lb delivered US consumer, respectively, while ZA 27 remained unchanged at $1.555/lb delivered.
Continued demand from the construction sector has kept prices for zinc alloys strong. Producer sentiment was buoyed this week by stronger than expected Q1 sales in the automotive industry and news of some car manufacturing plants in North America restarting production this week. Still, the uncertainty surrounding the supply of semiconductor chips has kept suppliers cautious.