Treatment charges (TCs) for spot zinc and lead concentrates continued to trade at low levels in February, with the Chinese market winding down for New Year holidays and participants discussing annual terms at the IZA conference in California.
Spot terms for zinc concentrates remained at multi-year lows of $10-30 per tonne. Demand across the month slowed while Chinese smelters wound down production, however the market is expected to pick up in the coming weeks.Download our zinc and lead concentrates newsletter here.Chinese smelter operation rates and mine output were higher than usual this year, encouraged by high metal prices."Usually Chinese smelters try to secure their winter feed in November-December but this year we were still in discussions for prompt deliveries until one week before IZA," a concentrates trader said.Zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange firmed further to an 11.5-year high over $3,500 per tonne; at these prices smelter margins for zinc processing are still growing via free-metal, encouraging demand from smelters, sources in China...