Inventories in seven places declined slightly, zinc prices rose slightly [SMM Zinc morning comment]

Overnight, LME zinc opened at $2510/mt, hitting a low and high of $2506.5/mt and $2615/mt respectively, and closed at $2555/mt, up $46/mt or 1.83%. Trading volume increased to 9013 lots, and open interest grew 2400 lots to 213,000 lots. LME zinc inventory dropped by 1675 mt or 0.79% to 209200 mt. Due to higher energy costs and deteriorating market conditions, Nyrstar said it would suspend zinc smelting operations in the second half of January at its Boulder plant in the Netherlands, one of Trafigura's zinc smelters in Europe with an annual capacity of About 300,000 tons. Market optimism revived due to expected reduction in zinc ingot supply, and LME zinc rose sharply during the session.

The most interest-traded SHFE 2403 zinc contract opened at 21300 yuan/mt overnight and fell to 21280 yuan/mt before rallying to a peak of 21410 yuan/mt. It eventually settled at 21345 yuan/mt, up 225 yuan/mt or 1.07%. Trading volume decreased to 34784 lots, and open interest gained by 2523 lots to 77716 lots. As of this Monday (January 15), the total zinc inventory in the seven SMM locations was 76,200 tons, a decrease of 500 tons from January 8 and a decrease of 1,000 tons from January 12. The inventory fell slightly.