Zinc players look for pricing clues in unsettled market

Dec 29, 2005 | 12:55 PM | Matthew Lerner

Zinc premiums were steady and alloys inched higher as the final days of 2005 ticked away, but a number of market participants see higher prices taking hold in the first quarter, stimulated by a range of bullish factors.

"There is going to be some premium adjustment for 2006," one alloy supplier said. "Producers are rumored to be considering premium increases of one-quarter to one-half cent."

"Premiums will go up during the first quarter," another zinc alloy supplier said, adding that he was sold out for the first quarter. "People have been trying to run inventory, but at some point they can't make their castings out of air. Pricing will catch up with these buyers when they re-enter the market to purchase during the first quarter of 2006."....





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