US zinc secondary alloys prices increased by around a penny on Tuesday amid stable demand and a drop in LME Zinc cash offers.
LME Zinc cash offers closed at $1.28/lb on Tuesday down from $1.2887/lb last week while the official three-month LME Zinc contract declined by $22/mt to $2,833/mt compared to $2,855/mt on Mar 23.
The weekly Davis Index for Zamak #2 increased by 1¢/lb to $1.495/lb delivered US consumer while both Zamak #3 and Zamak #7 rose by the same amount to $1.465/lb delivered. Zamak #5 moved up by 1.3¢/lb at $1.48/lb delivered.
Most of the ZA grades increased by a cent with the index for ZA 8 and ZA 12 settling at $1.515/lb delivered and $1.535/lb delivered US consumer, respectively, while ZA 27 was flat at $1.555/lb delivered.
Continued demand from the construction industry has been driving zinc alloy prices higher. Still, the continued shortage of semiconductor chips, which has seen many carmakers reducing production, may affect zinc alloys prices in the near term. For now, strong order books have producers hopeful about the zinc alloys market remaining largely unaffected by muted auto demand.