Zinc social inventories fell 2,200 mt on week

SHANGHAI, Oct 23 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China fell moderately this week, primarily propelled by the increase in Guangdong and Shanghai.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei decreased 2,200 mt in the week ended October 23 to 160,600 mt, after an increase of 13,800 mt in the previous week. The stocks rose 800 mt from Monday October 19.

Zinc inventories in east China's Shanghai piled up in the week but decreased from last Friday as rising prices suppressed downstream demand, and the inflow of imported zinc slowed down.

Arrivals of individual smelters in Guangdong decreased with downstream rigid demand, leading to the decrease in local zinc stocks.

The normal arrivals of smelters and weak orders of downstream galvanised tubes lifted inventories in Tianjin.

Stocks across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) fell 2,400 mt this week, after a 10,700 mt increase last week.