Spot terms in Asia continue to be driven by Chinese smelters' buying despite the cuts announced by them. Chinese smelters imported 155,131 tonnes of zinc concentrate in the second quarter of this year, down almost 10 percent on the previous quarter and down by almost a third on the corresponding period of 2001. Whilst the choice to cut production has been largely based on low LME zinc prices, concentrate availability on the spot market has nevertheless increasingly become an issue. Nonetheless, production cuts by smelters in China is offset by reduced availability and this has kept spot terms in check at around 140 dollars/t basis 1,000 dollars/t cif main Chinese port.
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