SHANGHAI, Jan 20 (SMM) – According to SMM survey, the average operating rate of zinc oxide producers stood at 15.4% this week, down 29.3 percentage points from a week ago. Most zinc oxide companies received poor orders in 2022 due to covid-19 pandemic. Although the strict pandemic control measures were scrapped, its far-reaching influence still weighed on the recovery of orders for many companies. Therefore, the majority of companies took CNY holiday earlier than in previous years after they finished delivering dismal orders ahead of time. At the same time, the wild fluctuations of zinc prices at high levels also dampened the enthusiasm of enterprises to stockpile raw materials and finished products. Therefore, the overall inventory days fell slightly. Almost no zinc oxide enterprises will maintain operation next week during the CNY holiday.