Zinc market records surplus during Jan-Oct 2015

By Carolina Curiel (ScrapMonster Author)

December 18, 2015 01:28:41 AM

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): According to the recently published metals balances report by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS), the worldwide zinc market has recorded a marginal surplus during January to October this year. This is after recording a deficit during the whole year 2014.

As per WBMS data, the global zinc market recorded small surplus of 170 kt during the initial ten months of the year from January to October. It should be noted that the worldwide zinc market had reported a deficit of 209 kt during the entire year 2014.

Global refined zinc production witnessed rise of 4.7% during the ten-month period. The Chinese production of locally refined zinc surged higher by nearly 9% when compared with the corresponding ten-month period in 2014.

The global demand for the metal has increased by 104 kt when matched with January to October in 2014. The Chinese apparent demand rose marginally by 1.4% over the previous year to 5,349 kt. The Chinese demand accounted for over 46% of the global metal demand during this period. The Japanese demand for the metal dropped 6.7% when matched with the levels recorded during Jan-Oct ’14. The demand during the ten-month period totaled 392.8 kt.

The reported stock of the metal has dropped marginally by 78,000 tonnes during the ten-month period. The LME zinc stocks fell by 26 kt during the month of October and accounted for 48% of the global stock of the metal. The LME stocks were down by 128 kt when compared with end-2014 levels.

The Chinese zinc metal imports reduced during Jan-Oct ’15 to 379.3 kt when compared with the imports of 533.3 kt during the same period last year. The imports during the month of October alone totaled 72.3 kt. The country imported mostly special high grade zinc metal during the month.

The zinc slab production during Oct ’15 totaled 1,179.0 kt and the consumption totaled 1,172.2 kt.