Exclusive: China's refined zinc output rose 7.56% on the month to 569,200 mt in October

SHANGHAI, Nov 9 (SMM) – China's refined zinc output stood at 569,200 mt in October, rising 19,700 mt or up 3.59% on month and up 7.56% on year. For January-October, output totalled 4.99 million mt, up 4.42% from the same period last year. Zinc smelters produced 81,800 mt of zinc alloy in September, up 0.79% from the previous month.

SMM survey showed that China's refined zinc output in October basically met expectations. Treatment charges (TCs) for domestic and imported zinc concentrate have hovered at lows recently, triggering concerns about zinc concentrate supply, and news of output cuts at smelters arose.

However, SMM data showed that smelters other than those in Shaanxi kept relatively stable production in October. Furthermore, some smelters ramped up production at the end of this year to make up for the low output during Q1-2 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Some smelters are concerned about the shortage of long-term ore supply, so they take the initiative to pile up raw material inventories. However, the raw material inventories of some refineries in Shaanxi and Hunan are still at a low level, and the overall zinc concentrate raw material inventories are 25.21 days, down 1.2 days from the previous month.

Some refineries in Shaanxi and Yunnan have planned to turn into maintenance and reduce production in November. In addition, Xinjiang Zijin started trial production on November 1. However, it will take time for product precipitation, and SMM will keep tracking.

The domestic refined zinc output in November is expected to decrease more than 10,000 mt to 559,200 mt.