LME Zinc Prices Plunge after Surge in LME Zinc Inventories? SMM Reports

[Tianjin Zinc Ingot Spot Premiums Held Steady]: Spot premiums in the Tianjin area remained flat WoW. As of Friday, ordinary brands were quoted at a discount of 90–120 yuan/mt against the 2605 contract, premium brands were quoted at a discount of 60–70 yuan/mt against the 2605 contract, and Tianjin was quoted at a discount of approximately 50 yuan/mt against Shanghai.

[Galvanizing Plant Operating Rates Rose]: The operating rates of galvanising producers stood at 62.13% this week, up 4.24 percentage points WoW. Raw material side, zinc prices fluctuated at highs throughout the week, with downstream players picking up fewer goods and mainly consuming existing stocks, leading to a decline in zinc ingot inventory at galvanising enterprises.

According to China News Service, on April 16, at the plant of Jiuquan Iron and Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. in Jiayuguan City, Gansu Province, automated equipment was producing a new generation of zinc-aluminum-magnesium products. It was reported that the group assembled a specialized team to tackle zinc-aluminum-magnesium technology. Against the backdrop of formidable external technical barriers and the absence of batch production track records in China, the team spent six years of intensive efforts to produce China's first coil of zinc-aluminum-magnesium products with proprietary intellectual property rights. At the end of 2025, JISCO's new generation of zinc-aluminum-magnesium products was unveiled. This product category represents the most technically challenging variety in the hot-dip galv