Recently, at a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council of China, the National Development and Reform Commission announced major arrangements for central budget investment in 2024, with a total amount of 700 billion yuan. The NDRC and relevant departments will work together to promote the working principle of giving equal importance to investment quality and efficiency, strengthen the reserve and preliminary preparation of various projects, and ensure the scientific formulation and efficient implementation of investment plans. At present, the central budget investment plan has exceeded 200 billion yuan, accounting for more than 30% of the annual plan.

In addition, the NDRC has efficiently completed the preliminary screening of special bond projects, and has pushed the relevant projects to the Ministry of Finance, and further fed back to local governments. The goal is to fully promote all new treasury bond projects to start construction before the end of June 2024, strive to maximize the pulling effect of fiscal funds and promote economic growth.

Last week, the operating rate of galvanizing plants dropped slightly. The main reason was that there was no obvious improvement in downstream demand recently. Except for orders for steel towers, the performance of orders in other areas was lower than expected. Under the pressure of excessively high zinc prices, some companies chose to suspend operations. As costs were too high, some companies cut production and reduced inventory. Therefore, finished product inventory has also declined.

If infrastructure projects are fully started before the end of June as expected, it will inevitably drive downstream demand and the galvanizing industry may usher in an increase in orders.