Zinc prices to face further pressure from inventory, seasonal lull

SHANGHAI, Jun 17 (SMM) – Higher social inventories of refined zinc and a release of smelting capacity will keep the supply of zinc sufficient in the short term. This, together with a prospect of slower operation across key zinc downstream sectors in June and a seasonal lull in July-August, are set to pressure on zinc prices, SMM believes. 

Three out of four futures analysts expressed their pessimism over zinc prices in an interview with SMM on Monday June 17. They believed that there is further downside room in prices in the short term.

On Monday June 17, the font-month SHFE June contract was delivered at a settlement price of 20,560 yuan/mt, with a volume of 54,800 mt, the greatest since 2017.

The backwardation of SHFE zinc contracts eased as the price spread between the June and July contract narrowed to around 200 yuan/mt upon closing on Monday June 17, compared with the previous 700 yuan/mt. 

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc across Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong increased by 4,300 mt from Friday June 14, and by 14,200 mt from Monday June 10, to stand at 158,200 mt as of Monday June 17.