Zinc social inventories shrank 18,700 mt on week

SHANGHAI, Apr 23 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China fell this week.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei decreased 18,700 mt in the week ended April 23 to 202,000 mt. The stocks fell 15,700 mt from Monday April 19.

Stocks in Shanghai decreased due to increasing purchase volume of the downstream when zinc prices fell. In south China's Guangdong, the maintenance of smelters affected arrivals and downstream purchasing demand improved, which led to the continuous decrease in stocks. Stocks in Tianjin fell sharply as downstream restocking demand increased when zinc prices fell and the maintenance of smelters in Inner Mongolia affected arrivals.

Stocks across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) fell 16,500 mt this week, after an 8,200 mt decrease last week.