LME Inventory Surged while Zinc Prices Remained Resilient

SHANGHAI, Feb 9 (SMM) - On the news front, it is expected that the January new loans in China may set a monthly record high. Many US Fed officials took a hawkish stance claiming that the 5.1% rate peak was rational, and the Fed governor said the rate hikes may last longer with larger sizes. Traders began to bet aggressively that interest rates would rise to 6%. Data from the China Passenger Car Association showed that the retail sales of passenger cars in January fell by 37.9% year-on-year, and those of new energy vehicles dropped by 48.3% month-on-month. The NEV producers all faced headwind in sales except Tesla, who got off to a good start in 2023 with price cuts. In terms of installed capacity of batteries in 2022, Chinese battery producers accounted for over 60% of the global share, with CATL ranking first.

Yesterday, LME zinc went down to close at $3,137.5/mt, down $59/mt or 1.85%. LME zinc inventory added by 3,825 mt to 19,425 mt.

Overnight, SHFE zinc also dropped by 175 yuan/mt or 0.75% to finish at 23,295 yuan/mt. On the macro front, the zinc prices still fluctuated following the volatile US dollar index.