Galvanizing Plants Have All Resumed Operations, Production Starts Increase Significantly [SMM Galvanizing Weekly Review]

SMM May 15: The operating rates of galvanising producers stood at 60.19% this week, up 12.43 percentage points WoW. Raw material side, zinc prices surged this week, dampening downstream purchase willingness, and zinc ingot inventories at galvanising enterprises declined notably. The main reason for the increase in operating rates was that during the Labour Day holiday, most galvanizing plants shut down for 1 to 5 days, leading to a significant reduction in actual production time, whereas this week nearly all had resumed normal production, resulting in a notable rise in operating rates. By specific sector: Galvanized pipes: As ferrous metals prices weakened, galvanized pipe traders mainly purchased on rigid demand, overall shipments from galvanizing plants were sluggish, operating rates fell short of expectations, and finished product inventories increased notably. Galvanized structural components: Steel tower orders were relatively stable, PV orders remained weak, traffic guardrail orders performed moderately, and export orders remained robust. The market currently showed a polarizing trend, with large enterprises maintaining stable and sufficient orders while small enterprises faced insufficient orders. The operating rate is expected to edge up to around 60.29% next week.