Glencore Has No Restart Plan in Near Term, Zinc Production Rises 9% in Q1 2017

Total zinc ingots inventories across seven major markets in China stood at 284,100 mt as of April 15, up 6,100 mt from April 8, down 3,700 mt from April 11.

Shanghai base metals mostly trended lower on Tuesday morning after US dollar rallied significantly. Meanwhile, their counterparts on LME performed similarly.

Shanghai nonferrous metals mostly closed in the positive territory as the market was cheered up by the macro front, as China released its December official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI readings, which topped market expectation.

SHFE and LME zinc prices once again hit new highs in two months, mainly owing to the continuously rising electricity and natural gas prices which rose by more than 20% amid intensifying energy shortages in the eurozone, according to SMM. Meanwhile, the costs of smelters also climbed due to low zinc concentrate TCs as a result of tight supply.

Market focus this week includes the readings of the manufacturing PMI in the Eurozone in November and the Markit manufacturing PMI in the United States in November; the one-year loan market interest rate as of November 22 in China. On the events front, the Federal Reserve FOMC will release the minutes of the monetary policy meeting this Thursday; Bank of England Governor Bailey will deliver a speech this Friday.

The focus of this week includes the September seasonally adjusted trade account in the Eurozone; the November New York Federal Reserve manufacturing index; the October unemployment claims and unemployment rate in the United Kingdom; the Eurozone’s Q3 GDP annual rate readings and seasonally adjusted quarterly rate of employment; US retail sales monthly rate in October.

Shanghai base metals basically trended higher on Tuesday morning amid extended power rationing. Meanwhile, their counterparts on LME mostly fell.

Glencore’s 2018 zinc output forecast at 1.09 million mt was below market expectations, giving support to the zinc market.

China’s zinc ingot output will grow slightly in September since some zinc smelters have completed maintenance, SMM predicts.

Nyrstar said on Wednesday it had restarted the Middle Tennessee zinc mine in the US earlier than planned.