Orders Showed Marginal Improvement, Zinc Oxide Production Utilization Rose [SMM Zinc Oxide Weekly Review]

Published: Apr 17, 2026 14:55

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[Orders Showed Marginal Improvement, Zinc Oxide Operating Rates Rose] Driven by marginal improvement in downstream orders, the industry's operating rate edged up this week...

The zinc oxide industry's operating rate came in at 59.70% this week, up 0.44 percentage points WoW. Although zinc prices stayed high during the week, some enterprises saw certain improvements in orders, with enterprises showing greater enthusiasm for raw material procurement and a corresponding increase in raw material stockpiling. Meanwhile, finished product warehouse withdrawals improved at some enterprises, and finished product inventories showed a pullback trend. Driven by marginal improvement in downstream orders, the industry operating rate edged up this week. By order segment, large leading enterprises currently maintained overall stable orders, with rubber-grade zinc oxide demand performing steadily. Ceramic-grade zinc oxide demand saw slight improvement as temperatures gradually recovered, but constrained by the overall weak performance of the real estate market, overall industry demand remained lackluster. Additionally, electronic-grade zinc oxide demand continued its relatively good momentum. Looking ahead to next week, driven by recent order improvements, some enterprises plan to ramp up production, and the zinc oxide operating rate is expected to break through the 60% mark to reach 60.19% next week.

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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