By Paul Ploumis 24 Jul 2015 Last updated at 03:07:00 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 May this year. During the entire year 2014, the global zinc market had recorded deficit.
As per WBMS data, the global zinc market recorded small surplus of 214 kt during the initial five months of the year from January to May in 2015. It should be noted that the worldwide zinc market had reported a deficit of 145 kt during the entire year 2014.
Global refined zinc production witnessed rise of 8.2% during the five-month period. The Chinese production of locally refined zinc surged higher by nearly 14.4% when compared with the corresponding five-month period in 2014.
The global demand for the metal has declined by 49 kt when matched with January to May in 2014. The Chinese apparent demand fell by 0.2% over the previous year to 2,522 kt. It accounted for just under 46% of the global refined zinc demand. The Japanese demand for the metal dropped 18% when matched with the levels recorded during Jan-May ’14. The Japanese demand during the five-month period totaled 171.9 kt.
The reported stock of the metal has declined by 75,000 tonnes during the five-month period. The LME zinc stocks declined by 15.9 kt during the month of May and accounted for 41% of the global stock of the metal.
The Chinese zinc metal imports reduced significantly by nearly 43% during Jan-May ’15 to 178 kt when compared with the imports of 311 kt during the same period last year.
