China Zinc Concentrate TCs Seen Falling Further

SHANGHAI, May 6 (SMM) - TCs of domestic zinc concentrate are expected to fall further in the near term on supply tightness, SMM says.

TCs of domestic zinc concentrate in Northeast China, Hunan and Shaanxi were lowered further for some zinc smelters due to concentrate tightness, SMM understands. A few zinc smelters saw big drop in zinc inventories. TCs were lowered to as low as 5,000 yuan per tonne (zinc content) at a few zinc smelters in South China. Recent zinc price gains failed to incentive large numbers of zinc smelters to restart.

Losses from imported ore narrowed 100 yuan to 800 yuan per tonne (zinc content) compared with domestic ore this past week, SMM calculates. Trading was poor as smelters preferred domestic ore.

TCs of domestic zinc concentrate (50%) fell to 5,100-5,300 yuan per tonne (zinc content) this past week, and those for imported zinc concentrate (50%) were $110-130 per dry metric tonne (DMT), according to SMM data.

For news cooperation, please contact us by email: sallyzhang@smm.cn or service.en@smm.cn.