SHANGHAI, Mar 1 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China rose over the weekend while the growth rate narrowed.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei increased 2,300 mt from last Friday February 26 to 264,400 mt as of Monday March 1. The stocks were up 12,000 mt from February 22.

With the resumption of work in the downstream, the market demand improved, and the shipments increased steadily. Meanwhile, the proportion of direct delivery from smelters to the downstream increased, which also affected the arrivals in warehouses.

Compared to last Friday, social inventories of refined zinc across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) increased 6,400 mt.