Zinc social inventories expanded 37,600 mt on week

SHANGHAI, Feb 26 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China rose this week.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei increased 37,600 mt in the week ended February 26 to 262,100 mt. The stocks rose 9,700 mt from Monday February 22.

Downstream resumed production one after another, and some factories still focused on digesting finished product inventories, leading to the limited overall demand. Arrivals of smelters continued to increase, and some smelters shipped out in-plant stocks especially when zinc prices rose, leading to a relatively large increase in zinc inventories.

Stocks across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) rose 37,900 mt this week, after a 45,200 mt increase last week.