Zinc social inventories declined for 1st time since the Lunar New Year holiday

SHANGHAI, Mar 20 (SMM) – Zinc inventories in China fell this week, marking the first week-on-week decline since the Lunar New Year holiday in late January, as a plunge in zinc prices and a jump in orders encouraged downstream consumers to step up stockpiling.

SMM data showed that social inventories of refined zinc ingots across Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong and Hebei decreased 7,200 mt in the week ended March 20 to 327,700 mt, compared to a gain of 12,100 mt in the previous week. The stocks dropped 12,800 mt from Monday March 16.

Tianjin primarily contributed to the decline in stocks this week, propelled by increased demand as well as reduced arrivals. The inventory decline in Guangdong was smaller as arrivals there remained normal. 

This week, social inventories of refined zinc across Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangdong fell 6,100 mt, after expanding 8,500 mt last week.