Hind Zinc cuts prices

Hindustan Zinc Limited, India's largest zinc producer, has cut the basic selling price of zinc by 2 per cent or Rs 3300 per tonne with immediate effect, in order to bridge the gap between the domestic and international zinc prices.

With this price cut, high grade zinc would now be quoted at Rs 164700 per tonne, while special high grade zinc would be sold at Rs 165200 per tonne. Similarly, prime western zinc, with a purity of 98.5 per cent, would quote at Rs 161900 per tonne.This is the fourth price revision this month.

Since the last price revision on March 8, the price of zinc on LME has declined drastically by $129.5 to $3361.5 in early trade on Monday.

The fall in the zinc prices is partly attributed to a sudden spurt in inventories in the LME-registered warehouses. The inventories registered a growth of 12.55 per cent or 11475 tonnes during the period under consideration. In contrast, the company raised the the price of lead by 1.25 per cent or Rs 1200 to Rs 95,900 per tonne.

However, the price of lead on LME rose by $84 to settle at $1955 in early Monday trade, mainly due to a 600 - tonne shortfall in inventories. The total reported lead inventory stood at 31225 tonnes on Monday.