Shanghai Nonferrous Metals News
SMM: China produced 499.2 kt of refined zinc in August, up 1.74% on-month and up 19.24% on-year. Domestic smelters were keen to produce during August, with several smelters such as Yuguang, Shaanxi Zinc Industries and Tongguan completing maintenance and resuming operations during the month. Despite some major overhauls, Yunnan smelters still reported obvious growth in monthly output. Hanzhong smelter gradually increased production in August and refined zinc output in IM lifted slightly after smelters completed maintenance.
IM smelters are set to further ramp up operations in September. Despite some Southern smelters planning maintenance, domestic refined zinc output is expected to lift further during September with smelters keen to produce, encouraged by relatively high processing charges (PC). SMM forecast domestic refined zinc output to grow to 504.7 kt in September, with aggregated refined zinc output during the first nine months of 2019 at 4.24 mln t.
