Boliden closing in on deal for Lundin’s European mines
A deal would cement Boliden’s position as one of Europe’s biggest producers of zinc.
Shanghai zinc prices jumped on Monday to their highest in more than three years, buoyed by prospects of demand improvement in top user China as the traditionally peak consumption season approaches.
The most-traded May zinc contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 4.3% to 22,335 yuan ($3,432.77) a tonne, its highest since January 2018.
Three-month zinc on the London Metal Exchange advanced 1.4% to $2,877.50 a tonne by 0553 GMT.
“The operating rate of downstream galvanizing companies remains high and (China) will soon enter the traditional peak season for consumption. It is expected that zinc prices will continue to be strong,” Huatai Futures said in a note, adding zinc concentrate supply remained tight.
Official data showed zinc concentrate imports in the first two months of 2021 declined 1.8% from a year earlier to 679,758 tonnes, while refined zinc imports jumped 60.15% to 87,345 tonnes.
Meanwhile, zinc production in January and February combined rose 2.8% year-on-year to 1.08 million tonnes, official data showed.
($1 = 6.5064 yuan)
(By Mai Nguyen; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Subhranshu Sahu)
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