Zinc, Tin and Lead Markets Recorded Notable Deficits in 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The Metals Balances report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) indicates that key markets including zinc, lead and tin ended in deficit during 2017.

The refined zinc market ended in deficit of 177 kt in 2017, reversing from a surplus of 100 kt recorded during the entire year 2016. Global refined zinc production witnessed decline of 2.2%. The Chinese production of locally refined zinc rose by 1.9% compared with 2016. The global zinc demand edged lower marginally by 21 kt in the previous year. The Chinese apparent demand rose by 3.2%, accounting for nearly 48% of the global demand for the metal. The Japanese demand too was up marginally by 1.6%. The monthly zinc slab production and consumption totaled 1,218.4 kt and 1,174.1 kt respectively.

The global tin market recorded marginal deficit of 36 kt in 2017. There were no DLA deliveries during the year. The refined tin production in 2017 remained essentially unchanged from the prior year. Among regions, Asian production declined by 2.2 kt. The global tin demand surged higher by 5.4% over the prior year to total 388.4 kt in 2017. Chinese apparent demand soared by over 9%. Meantime, Japanese consumption dropped. The total reported stocks at the end of 2017 were 3.6 kt lower than end-2016 levels. During the month of December 2017 alone, the refined tin production and demand totaled 30.6 kt and 33.6 kt respectively.

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The lead market deficit widened further in 2017. The deficit at the end of the previous year totaled 167 kt, as compared with the deficit of 14 kt in the whole of 2016. The world refined production, from both primary and secondary sources, surged higher by 9.1% over the year to 11,123.1 kt. The global demand edged higher by 1,078 kt. The Chinese apparent consumption totaled 4,659.5 kt, accounting for 41% share of total global consumption of the metal. Meantime, the US apparent demand declined during the year. The refined lead production and consumption totaled 1,157.7 kt and 1,205.7 kt respectively during Dec ’17.