Korea Zinc and Teck are widely known to be meeting this week to negotiate terms for their annual contracts that have often been followed by others in the market and thereby setting 'benchmark' terms. We know of other discussions that are also being held. As we pointed out in October's Monitor, which was published shortly after LME Week and before zinc's brief and modest late-month rally, many miners and smelters are now very marginal, and developments during the last month have reminded market participants of this fact, with renewed difficulties faced by both miners and smelters. We believe that they are commencing talks with still no ostensible consensus on the direction of any move in terms.
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