Zinc market reports 137 kt surplus during Jan-Sep '15

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): According to the recently published metals balances report by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS), the worldwide zinc market has recorded a marginal surplus during January to September this year. This is after recording a deficit during the whole year 2014.

As per WBMS data, the global zinc market recorded small surplus of 137 kt during the initial nine months of the year from January to September. It should be noted that the worldwide zinc market had reported a deficit of 209 kt during the entire year 2014.

Global refined zinc production witnessed rise of 5.4% during the nine-month period. The Chinese production of locally refined zinc surged higher by nearly 10% when compared with the corresponding nine-month period in 2014.

The global demand for the metal has increased by 98 kt when matched with January to September in 2014. The Chinese apparent demand rose marginally by 0.4% over the previous year. The Japanese demand for the metal dropped 5.3% when matched with the levels recorded during Jan-Sep ’14. The demand during the nine-month period totaled 356.4 kt.

The reported stock of the metal has increased slightly by 23,000 tonnes during the nine-month period. The LME zinc stocks rose by 7.1kt during the month of September and accounted for 49% of the global stock of the metal. The LME stocks were down by 95 kt when compared with end-2014 levels.

The Chinese zinc metal imports reduced during Jan-Sep ’15 to 307 kt when compared with the imports of 509 kt during the same period last year. The imports during the month of September alone totaled 41.4 kt. The country imported mostly special high grade zinc metal during the month.

The zinc slab production during Sep ’15 totaled 1,185.4 kt and the consumption totaled 1,162.2 kt.