US zinc scrap prices trended flat on Thursday despite strengthening demand on sluggish movements in LME Zinc.
The official LME Zinc three-month contract settled Thursday at $2,996/mt flat from Aug 26. Traders have preferred to hold making further spot deals as they try to gauge the way forward in this market.
Demand for zinc scrap remains strong, especially from the white goods market and electronics market, and has boosted zinc prices, especially for new zinc diecast. Overall supply and demand remain balanced for galvanizer grades, though supply for top dross is slightly tighter compared to bottom dross.
The weekly Davis Indexes for zinc galvanizers bottom dross inched up by 0.5¢/lb to 99.5¢/lb delivered while zinc galvanizers top dross remained unchanged at $1.02/lb delivered today.
New zinc diecast also climbed by 0.5¢/lb to 98.5¢/lb delivered as the demand from electronics and white goods industries continued to remain strong. Offers for this grade were heard as high as 99¢/lb delivered.
In the primary market, the Davis Index special high-grade (SHG) premium remained unchanged at 8.4¢/lb delivered. Still, demand for SHG zinc is strengthening both from end consumers, as well as alloy producers and participants, expect the premium for this grade to reach at least 9-10¢/lb by the end of this year. A probable deficit in primary zinc is likely to spur the demand too.