By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)
November 19, 2015 04:27:45 AM
The latest statistics published by the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) indicates that global zinc market remained balanced during the third quarter of the current year.ILZSG: Zinc market remained balanced during Q3 2015
SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics published by the International Lead and Zinc Study Group (ILZSG) indicates that global refined zinc market remained balanced during the third quarter of the year. The market had recorded a supply surplus of 150kt and 38kt during Q1 and Q2 respectively.

The total reported zinc inventories at LME declined by 95,000 tons during the first nine months of the year. Meantime, inventories at Shanghai Futures Exchange increased by 85,000 tons. The stocks reported by producers reported a jump of 33,000 tons during January to September this year.

The zinc mine output grew significantly in major producing countries including Australia, India, Peru, the Russian Federation and Sweden. Overall, the zinc mine output grew by 2.1% during the initial nine-month period in 2015 when compared with the corresponding period last year.

The refined zinc metal production during the four-month period totaled 4.604 million tons, 8.97% higher when compared with the 4.225 million tons output during corresponding four-month period in 2014. The refined zinc metal production surged higher in Canada, China, India and the Republic of Korea. The mine output registered declines in Bolivia, Canada, China, Ireland and Namibia.

The global demand for refined zinc metal witnessed marginal rise of 0.8% to touch 10.298 million tons during January to September this year. The Chinese apparent usage increased by 0.6%. The US reported a demand decline of 2.7% during this period. The apparent consumption in the Europe region witnessed rise of 2.2%.

Interestingly, Chinese net imports of refined zinc metal increased by 61% during Jan-Sep ’15 in comparison with the corresponding period in 2014. The Chinese net imports of refined zinc metal totaled over 1 million tons.

The ILZSG preliminary data indicates that global zinc mine output totaled 1.112 million tons during the month of September alone. The global refined zinc metal production totaled 1.191 million tonnes, whereas global zinc demand totaled 1.169 million tons.