Zinc at 7-year high

As China increasingly exhaustive demand for metals, the price of Zinc has reached a seven-year high of $1,255.50 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange.

While China continues to be a net importer, comsuming about one-fifth of world zinc, its consumption could rise between 11-18% over 2005 - as much as 260,000 tonnes - resulting in a global deficit of 280,000 tonnes.

This could result in the price of zinc outperforming other metals over 2005.