Zinc social inventories expanded 1,700 mt over weekend

SHANGHAI, Jul 12 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China rose over the weekend.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei increased 1,700 mt from last Friday July 9 to 122,000 mt as of Monday July 12. The stocks were up 6,200 mt from July 5.

Stocks in Shanghai increased slightly as transferred cargoes of inventories in Tianjin arrived at the downstream factories in East China last week, leading to a decline in procurement demand in the downstream market. In south China's Guangdong, market arrivals continued to improve and downstream demand weakened, which led to a sharp rebound in stocks. Stocks in Tianjin fell slightly as downstream demand remained stable and arrivals of smelters declined.

Compared to last Friday, social inventories of refined zinc across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) increased 1,600 mt.