Zinc Alloy Enterprises Resume Production Driving Operating Rates to Rise, but Die-Casting Finished Products Climb Due to High Prices [SMM Die-Casting Zinc Alloy Weekly Review]

The die-casting zinc alloy operating rate came in at 52.23% this week, up 9.09 percentage points WoW. After zinc prices surged rapidly during the week, strong fear of high prices prevailed among downstream players, and the shipment pace of die-casting zinc alloy enterprises slowed down notably, leading to passive accumulation of finished product inventories. Meanwhile, raw material procurement became more cautious, further exacerbating the structural inventory imbalance of "declining raw materials and rising finished products." The significant increase in operating rates this week was mainly attributable to the resumption of normal operations at enterprises that had suspended production during the Labour Day holiday. Order side, market consumption showed a divergent pattern. On one hand, auto parts orders, optical module orders, and lock orders driven by the "618" shopping festival remained relatively stable recently; on the other hand, traditional domestic demand sectors such as small hardware and daily-use hardware remained weak, with strong wait-and-see sentiment among end-users. Looking ahead, the die-casting zinc alloy enterprise operating rate is expected to edge down to around 52.13% with fluctuations next week.