US zinc secondary alloys prices increased by more than 3¢/lb on Tuesday on growing demand from the automotive and manufacturing industries.
The LME zinc market has also surged over the past week, with LME Zinc breaching its May 2019 highs last week before trending down slightly early this week. The official LME zinc cash offers closed Tuesday at $1.2451/lb up from $ 1.2081/lb on Nov 17, while the official three-month LME zinc contract rose by $81.50/mt from last week, closing Tuesday at $2,756/mt from $2,674.50/mt on Nov 17.
Demand for zinc alloys has strengthened over the past week as the automotive and manufacturing industries ramp up their production to shore up inventory in case there is a second wave of lockdowns. However, suppliers remain wary about the high LME Zinc prices that are pushing up zinc alloys tags and are concerned that high prices could deter consumers from placing further orders.
The weekly Davis Indexes for Zamak #5 rose by 3.7¢/lb to $1.456/lb delivered US consumer. Zamak #2 increased by 3.9¢/lb to $1.473/lb delivered, while both Zamak #3 and Zamak #7 moved up by the same amount to $1.443/lb delivered on Tuesday.
The index for ZA 8 increased by 3.4¢/lb to $1.488/lb delivered US consumer while ZA12 moved up by 3.8¢/lb to $1.512/lb delivered. ZA 27 saw the least rise of all grades, climbing by 3.3¢/lb to $1.454/lb delivered US consumer.