Zinc social inventories fell 4,200 mt on week

SHANGHAI, Jul 10 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China continued to fall this week, primarily propelled by losses in Shanghai and Guangdong where demand improved.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei decreased 4,200 mt in the week ended July 10 to 212,400 mt, after a decline of 1,800 mt in the previous week. The stocks dropped 5,300 mt from Monday July 6.

Stocks across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) fell 5,100 mt this week, compared with a 600 mt gain in the week before.

In east China’s Shanghai, reduced spot premiums earlier in the week encouraged downstream consumers to step up purchases and led to lower inventories there.

Increased purchases by downstream consumers also contributed to the decline in inventories in south China’s Guangdong, even as narrower discounts against Shanghai put a break on cargo relocation.

Zinc inventories in north China’s Tianjin were little changed from last Friday as reduced arrivals were offset by normal demand.