Zinc Oxide Operating Rate Rises in 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.

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

The average operating rate across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces lost 5.88 percentage points from the previous week to 56.30% in the week ended September 24, an SMM survey showed.

This is a roundup of China's metals weekly inventory as of September 24.

According to SMM survey, the domestic stainless steel output in August totalled about 2.82 million mt, down 103,000 mt or 3.53% month on month but up 2.19% year on year. China’s output of stainless steel totalled 22.53 million mt in January-August, an increase of 22.65% year on year.

Operating rates across lead-acid battery producers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hebei provinces gained 0.44 percentage point from August 13 to 69.66% as of August 20.