Zinc social inventories dropped 19,600 mt in the week ahead of Labour Day holiday

Published: Apr 30, 2020 14:03

Save

Zinc inventories in China continued their steep decline this week, as downstream consumers stockpiled ahead of the Labour Day holiday and the imminent restoration of highway toll fees.

SHANGHAI, Apr 30 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China continued their steep decline this week, as downstream consumers stockpiled ahead of the Labour Day holiday and the imminent restoration of highway toll fees.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei stood at 229,600 mt as of Thursday April 30, down 19,600 mt from last Friday April 24 and 10,600 mt from Monday April 27.

Stocks in Guangdong continued to fall sharply this week, as the relocation of cargoes from Guangdong to east and north China that began last week continued on lingering arbitrage opportunities.

Tianjin only saw a moderate decline in inventories this week, as stable demand was offset by great arrivals. Some of deliveries from Shanghai and Guangdong arrived at social warehouses in Tianjin this week.

Between April 24 and April 30, social inventories of refined zinc across Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong fell 14,900 mt, compared with a decline of 22,800 mt in the week ended April 24.

Inventory data Zinc

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or for more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

10 hours ago

Fatal accident at Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter involved the roasting-system area; output impact remains to be seen

On Sept 16, a fatal fall took the life of a subcontractor worker during roof work at Plant 2 of Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter in Ulsan, South Korea. The incident occurred on the roof of the condenser room, part of the roasting and sulphuric-acid system at the front end of the zinc flowsheet, while a ventilation fan was being installed. The accident arose from exterior construction work and did not damage the main smelting equipment. However, if the roasting-acid system is taken offline, the zinc roasters cannot sustain normal operation. No production cut, maintenance shutdown or suspension notice has been issued, and investigations are under way. Whether a work-stoppage order will be issued — and how broad its scope would be — and whether the company voluntarily halts the affected system for inspection remain unknown; the output impact is therefore uncertain. As a very rough sensitivity reference based on the smelter's nameplate capacity of roughly 640,000 t/y, a 3-7 day shutdown would imply a volume impact on the order of several thousand tonnes — but this is an order-of-magnitude estimate only, and the actual impact depends on the scope and duration of any inspection-related halt. Coming in a year when several overseas smelters (Nexa's Cajamarquilla, Glencore's Kazzinc and Young Poong's Seokpo) have already been disrupted amid a tight global refined-zinc market, the incident may lend short-term bullish sentiment to zinc, while the actual impact on output requires continued monitoring.

10 hours ago

11 hours ago

Rate Hike Lands, Macro Pressure Persists; China Destocking Supports SHFE Zinc to Rebound from Lows [SMM Zinc Futures Commentary]

[Rate Hike Lands, Macro Pressure Persists; China Destocking Supports SHFE Zinc's Rebound from Lows] In the daytime session, the SHFE zinc 2611 contract opened at 26,080 yuan/mt, dipped to 25,970 yuan/mt in early trading, then consolidated and rebounded, reaching a high of 26,335 yuan/mt near the close before settling at 26,280 yuan/mt, up 95 yuan/mt, or 0.36%. Trading volume increased to 64,810 lots, while open interest decreased by 1,860 lots to 124,000 lots......

11 hours ago

12 hours ago

Data: SHFE, DCE market movement (Sep 17)

The following table shows the ferrous and nonferrous metals movement on the SHFE and DCE on 17 Sep , 2026

12 hours ago