China zinc production grew 9.6% in 2019

SHANGHAI, Jan 8 (SMM) – China’s zinc output extended its increase to a fresh record high in December, showed an SMM survey, as some smelters recovered from maintenance and also enticing profits kept smelters operating at full capacity.

About 537,000 mt of refined zinc was produced in China last month, up 1.18% month on month and 19.76% year on year. This brought full-year production to 5.84 million mt, up 9.64% from 2018. Capacity covered in the SMM survey amounted to 6.09 million mt on an annualised basis.

In December, Henan Yuguang Zinc Industry and Yunnan Hualian Zinc & Indium recovered from maintenance, while Luoping Zinc & Electricity began its annual overhaul.

China’s production of refined zinc is expected to dip 1.53% to 528,900 mt in January, as some smelters in Hunan, Qinghai and Yunnan will shut or trim production during the Chinese New Year holiday.

With most large-scale smelters maintaining production during the holiday, the month-on-month decline in zinc output would be moderate and produce an increase of 21.8% from January 2019.