By  Paul Ploumis 28 Sep 2015  Last updated at  04:17:25 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 July 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 219 kt during the initial seven months of the year from January to June in 2015. It should be noted that the worldwide zinc market had reported a deficit of 142 kt during the entire year 2014.

Global refined zinc production witnessed rise of 6.7% during the seven-month period. The Chinese production of locally refined zinc surged higher by nearly 11.5% when compared with the corresponding seven-month period in 2014.

The global demand for the metal has improved by 82 kt when matched with January to July in 2014. The Chinese apparent demand fell by 0.3% over the previous year to 3,635 kt. It accounted for just under 46% of the global refined zinc demand. The Japanese demand for the metal dropped 4.2% when matched with the levels recorded during Jan-July ’14. The Japanese demand during the seven-month period totaled 281.3 kt.

The reported stock of the metal has declined by 128,000 tonnes during the sven-month period. The LME zinc stocks declined by 32.8 kt during the month of July and accounted for 41% of the global stock of the metal.

The Chinese zinc metal imports reduced significantly during Jan-July ’15 to 231.9 kt when compared with the imports of 420.90 kt during the same period last year.

The slab zinc production during June this year totaled 1,163.50 kt. The consumption during the month totaled 1137.20 kt.