Overseas Inventories Increase Combined With Continuous Tariff News, Zinc Price Center in Both Domestic and Overseas Markets Continues to Decline This Week [SMM Market Review - Weekly Price Commentary]

SMM February 28 News:

LME Zinc: At the beginning of the week, LME zinc edged up, influenced by the lower-than-expected preliminary February S&P Global Services PMI and final February University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index in the US last Friday. However, uncertainties surrounding international situations and Trump's tariff policies led to a decline in LME zinc. Subsequently, the increase in overseas inventories exerted pressure on zinc prices. On the macro side, the February Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index in the US rose from -2 in the previous month to 6, significantly exceeding the market expectation of -3, marking the first expansion after 15 consecutive months of contraction. The data performed well, risk aversion sentiment weakened, and Trump announced an investigation into the copper industry, causing LME zinc to continue its downward trend. Later, Trump extended tariff measures to the EU, the US dollar index edged higher, and overseas inventories continued to increase. However, the annualized total of new home sales in the US for January fell short of expectations, recording 657,000 units. LME zinc maintained a fluctuating trend. As of 15:00 this Thursday, LME zinc recorded $2,814/mt, down $106/mt, a decrease of 3.63%.

SHFE Zinc: At the beginning of the week, SHFE zinc continued the fluctuating trend from the previous week. Subsequently, overseas zinc inventories increased. According to SMM data, as of this Monday (February 24), the total zinc ingot inventory across seven regions monitored by SMM was 145,600 mt, an increase of 8,500 mt compared to February 20. Domestic inventories also increased, with supply-side increments being released, while downstream consumption had not fully recovered. SHFE zinc opened lower with a gap and continued to decline. Later, Trump's tariff policies extended to the copper industry, and the market was continuously disturbed by tariff issues. Meanwhile, large-scale power outages in Chile potentially impacted the supply side. Although spot trading in the domestic market improved, actual demand had not returned to normal, leading to a continued decline in SHFE zinc. Subsequently, expectations of supply-side improvement drove expectations of rising processing fees, while downstream consumption demand is expected to gradually recover. The combination of supply-side easing expectations and potential consumption improvement expectations led zinc prices to maintain a fluctuating trend. As of 15:00 this Thursday, SHFE zinc recorded 23,555 yuan/mt, down 465 yuan/mt, a decrease of 1.94%.

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