SHANGHAI, May 15 (SMM) - Galvanized pipe plants in Handan, Hebei Province were forced to close some production lines after environmental protection storm affected the region May 12. About 6,000 tonnes of zinc consumption by local galvanizers will be affected in response, SMM reckons.
Handan City Air Quality Security Emergency Command Center announced May 12 that local galvanized pipe plants will be required to cut production by 50% starting 0:00 May 12.
There are two large galvanized pipe producers and 3-5 small ones in Handan. They actually cut production by 50%. The deadline of production restrictions for them may be prolonged from May 16 said in the notice to May 22, SMM learned.
The two large galvanized pipe plants said their downstream orders weakened from mid-to-late March due to sluggish infrastructure construction and construction industries. They are optimistic toward future consumption in the second quarter compared to the same period of last year. Galvanized pipe plants in Handan have had one-month of finished product inventories from April.
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Environmental protection push in Tianjin, Baozhou and Handan will affect zinc consumption in the near term, SMM said. Zinc inventories in Shanghai and Guangdong have dropped 52,000 tonnes from April 21, but those in Tianjin only decreased 3,000 tonnes, down 5,500 tonnes from the same period of last year, according to SMM statistics.
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