SHANGHAI, Apr 8(SMM) - China's output of refined zinc in March 2022 is estimated at 501,300 mt, up 42,900 mt or 9.37% MoM and 0.9% YoY. The total output of refined zinc from January to March 2022 is expected to be 1.477 million mt, down 2.19% year-on-year.

SMM survey showed that output of domestic refined zinc rose sharply in March from a month ago, however it was lower than expected. Reasons for the increase in output are as follow: Smelters in Liaoning resumed production, providing a small increase. Some small smelters in Sichuan stopped production, but production resumption of local secondary zinc plants drove the output of Sichuan increasing MoM. Some smelters in Inner Mongolia resumed production after maintenance without full capacity, but still provided the main increase. Smelters in Yunnan, Hunan, Guangxi, Qinghai and other regions resumed production in March with larger increase MoM. In addition, a smelter in Qinghai put into production in March with slight increase in output production. The rest of the sharp increase was due to the rise in the number of production days in March. The decrease in output was caused by maintenance and production cuts at some smelters in Shaanxi and Gansu.

SMM expects that output of domestic refined zinc in April will increase by 2,300 mt to 503,600 mt MoM, a slight increase from March which is less than market expectations, and a decrease of 1,500 mt or 0.29% from last year. The total output of refined zinc is expected to be 1.981 million mt from January to April, a total decrease of 1.71% from a year ago. Reasons for the increase in output are as follow: The production resumption of small and medium-sized smelters in Hunan provided the main increment. The end of maintenance at a smelter in Gansu. The resumption of production in March of some smelters in Guangxi with normal output in April. A smelter in Qinghai reached optimal capacity in April. Reasons for the decrease in output are as follow: Maintenance in some smelters of Yunnan led to major reductions. Some smelters in Shaanxi reduced production in April while some in Inner Mongolia stopped production.