Zinc social inventories expanded 10,000 mt over weekend

SHANGHAI, Oct 12 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China rose over the weekend, primarily propelled by an increase in Shanghai and Tianjin.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei increased 10,000 mt from last Friday October 9 to 159,000 mt as of Monday October 12. The stocks were up 29,500 mt from September 30.

Rising arrivals of domestic cargoes in the market and inflow of imported zinc significantly lifted inventories in Shanghai. Stocks in Guangdong increased slightly as downstream users stockpiled actively post-holiday despite rising arrivals. In north China's Tianjin, short-term procurement demand has weakened with downstream raw material inventories, leading to an increase in local zinc inventories.

Compared to last Friday, social inventories of refined zinc across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) increased 7,500 mt.