Demand for ceramic-grade zinc oxide is good, and the operating rate of zinc oxide increased this week [SMM Zinc Oxide Weekly Review]

SMM May 16 News:

       This week, the zinc oxide operating rate was recorded at 62.41%, up 2.68% WoW. On the raw material side, the center of zinc prices moved upward this week, while the coefficients of some raw materials also increased. Enterprises mainly made just-in-time procurement in the face of high prices, leading to a slight decrease in raw material inventories. In terms of finished product inventories, some enterprises achieved relatively good shipments during the week, driving a significant reduction in finished product inventories. Regarding orders, this week, the market demand for rubber-grade zinc oxide slowed down due to the overall high inventory levels at downstream tyre factories and agents. For ceramic-grade zinc oxide, the overall order demand of some small enterprises improved recently, while orders at large factories remained relatively stable. Affected by the pullback in market demand for end-user resistor products, the overall performance of electronic-grade zinc oxide was sluggish. Orders for feed-grade zinc oxide remained relatively normal. In terms of export orders, zinc oxide enterprises' cautious attitude towards subsequent end-user export orders has not changed. They believe that macro uncertainties still exist. Meanwhile, the European Union's trade protection investigation into China's tyres is expected to commence, and the prospects for domestic tyre exports remain uncertain. Affected by the positive performance of orders in some end-user sectors, it is expected that the zinc oxide enterprises' operating rate will remain around 62.75% next week.

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