Zinc social inventories shrank 5,100 mt over weekend

SHANGHAI, May 17 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China fell over the weekend.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei decreased 5,100 mt from last Friday May 14 to 171,200 mt as of Monday May 17. The stocks were down 16,700 mt from May 10.

Stocks in Shanghai decreased sharply as downstream stockpiled more when zinc prices fell. In south China's Guangdong, outbound quantity increased with moderate market arrivals, which led to the continuous decrease in stocks. Stocks in Tianjin continued to go up as downstream was worried about the continuous increase of zinc prices, and purchased more when prices fell.

Compared to last Friday, social inventories of refined zinc across the three major trading hubs (Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong) decreased 6,500 mt.