Zinc social inventories shrank 11,500 mt on week

SHANGHAI, Dec 25 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China fell this week, with stocks in Shanghai, Guangdong and Tianjin decreasing relatively sharply.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei decreased 11,500 mt in the week ended December 25 to 143,000 mt. The stocks fell 11,000 mt from Monday December 21.

Stocks in Shanghai decreased as imported zinc continued to flow into the market, while the decline of prices stimulated downstream restocking demand. In south China's Guangdong, there were still many orders for die-casting zinc alloys, while the smelters' arrivals fell week on week, leading to the sharp decline in local zinc inventories, with stocks hitting a new low in the year. Stocks in Tianjin stopped rising as smelters' main focus turned to actively adjusting prices for shipments, and the downstream also restocked when prices fell driven by demand for realisation. 

Stocks across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) fell 8,800 mt this week, after a 1,700 mt decrease last week.