Global refined zinc market ended in deficit of 296 kt in 2014: ILZSG

Author: Paul Ploumis26 Feb 2015 Last updated at 04:58:56 GMT

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics published by the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) indicates that global refined zinc market was in deficit of 296,000 tons during the year 2014. The total reported zinc inventories declined by 321,000 tons during the year.

The zinc mine output reported declines in Australia, Canada, India, Kazakhstan, Namibia and Peru. However, the fall in output was covered with the increased mine output from other countries including China. Overall, the zinc mine output grew by 1.4% during the year when compared with the previous year.

The refined zinc metal production during the year totaled 13.513 million tons, 5% higher when compared with the 12.873 million tons output during 2013. The rise in refined zinc metal output was mainly due to increased output from China. The Chinese refined zinc metal output surged higher by 14.3% over the year.

The global demand for refined zinc metal increased by 6.5% to 13.809 million tons during 2014. The Chinese apparent usage increased by 11.7%. The imports of refined zinc metal by the country during 2014 totaled 439,000 tons, down almost 30% when matched with the previous year. The refined zinc metal usage ex-China increased by 2.3% mainly on account of increased usage reported from Korea, Mexico, Taiwan and the United States.

The global mine production during the year totaled 13.372 million tons.

The global zinc mine production during the month of Dec ’14 alone totaled 1.144 million tons. The refined zinc metal output during the month totaled 1.192 million tons. The global demand for the metal totaled 1.177 million tons during the month.