SHANGHAI, Mar 16 (SMM) – The overall demand was poor immediately following CNY holidays in February. While downstream producers had just begun to resume production, end-users had not resumed production simultaneously. Combined with market expectations over demand recovery and macroeconomic factors, SHFE zinc prices moved rangebound. LME zinc prices dragged on their counterpart in China as the US non-farm payrolls were well above expectations. This, coupled with sluggish actual consumption after CNY holidays, led to a nosedive in SHFE zinc prices. Retail data and the hawkish stance of the Fed weakened the support for SHFE zinc. Combined with bears flooding into the market, SHFE zinc prices edged down. There was no solid macroeconomic news in the month.

On the fundamental front, the social inventory of zinc ingots in the seven regions tracked by SMM decreased. This, combined with market optimism over consumption improvement during the peak season, helped SHFE zinc rally slightly. At the end of the month, SHFE zinc prices fell again affected by overseas PCE data.