Author: Paul Ploumis27 Apr 2015 Last updated at 05:59:20 GMT
BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): According to the latest published metals balances report by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS), the worldwide zinc market has recorded a marginal surplus during January to February this year. This is after recording a deficit during the whole year 2014.
As per WBMS data, the global zinc market recorded small surplus of 33.1 kt during the initial two months of the year from January to February. It should be noted that they worldwide zinc market had reported a deficit of 153 kt during the entire year 2014.
Global refined zinc production witnessed rise of 5.7% during the two-month period. The Chinese production of locally refined zinc surged higher by nearly 17% when compared with the corresponding two-month period in 2014.
The global demand for the metal rose by 5% (104 kt) when matched with January to February in 2014. The Chinese apparent demand rose by 1.1% over the previous year. It accounted for just under 43% of the global refined zinc demand. The Japanese demand for the metal too rose 2.7% when matched with the levels recorded during Jan-Feb ’14.
The reported stock of the metal declined by 127,000 tonnes during the two-month period. The stocks fell by 76,000 tonnes during Jan ’15 alone. The LME zinc stocks declined by 63.9 kt during the month of February and accounted for 55% of the global stocks of the metal.
The Chinese zinc metal imports plunged heavily during Jan-Feb ’15 to 41 kt when compared with the imports of 129 kt during the same period last year.