Zinc Market Report May 2015

Contents
Introduction 1
2 International market overview 1
3 Chinese domestic market review 3
3.1 Zinc concentrate supply increases in northern Chinese market but tightens in the southern market in May 3
3.2 Zinc ingot supply abundant, trading thin 5
3.3 Die-casting zinc alloy producers reduce output 6
3.4 Zinc oxide market 7
3.4.1 Market for zinc oxide produced from zinc ingots slow 7
3.4.2 Zinc scrap prices move down, trading on zinc oxide produced from zinc scrap flat on the market 8
3.4.3 Zinc oxide 90-99% market improves slightly 9
3.5 Zinc powder market 9
3.5.1 Super-fine zinc powder market trading stable 9
3.5.2 Metal zinc powder demand stable 10
3.6 Zinc sulfate prices stable 11
4 Production data 11
4.1 China’s zinc concentrate output down by 8.37% YOY in April 2015 11
4.2 China’s refined zinc output up by 6.3% MOM in April 12
4.3 Operating rate of China’s zinc smelters up to 82.13% in May 12
4.4 China’s zinc smelters’ stocks up by 9.6% MOM in late May 13
4.5 China’s die-casting zinc alloy plants’ operating rate up to 47.4% in May 14
4.6 Operating rate of China’s zinc oxide plants up to 46.4% in May 15
4.7 Stocks at China’s zinc oxide plants down by 1.5% MOM in late May 16
5 Import & export data analysis 17
5.1 China’s zinc import and export data by country in April 17
5.2 China’s zinc ore/concentrate imports in April up by 85.63% YOY 19
5.3 China’s refined zinc imports up by 25.19% MOM in April 2015 21
5.4 China’s zinc alloy imports up by 6.59% MOM in April 23
5.5 China’s zinc oxide imports up by 6.3% MOM in April 24
5.6 China’s zinc powder imports down by 77.12% MOM in April 2015 25
5.7 Top ten Chinese zinc ore/concentrate importers in April 27
6 Company news 27
6.1 Zhongkai’s lead-zinc mine resumes production in late May 27
6.2 Jinwang Mining plans to produce around 68kt of zinc in 2015 27
6.3 Shaanxi Zinc to resume normal production in mid-June 28
6.4 MengZi Metallurgy’s zinc ingot output increases to 5,000t in May 28
6.5 Jinyi Alloy’s die-casting zinc alloy output increases to 7,500t in May 28
6.6 US Zinc (Changshu) Metal to expand zinc oxide capacity to 25,000tpy 28
7 Related industry developments 29
7.1 China’s crude steel output down by 0.7% YOY in April 29
7.2 China’s automobile sales volume down by 0.49% YOY in April 29
8 Outlook for June 29

Picture 1 Three-month seller zinc on the LME in May 2
Picture 2 Zinc stocks on the LME in May 2
Picture 3 Prices for zinc concentrate 50%min in South China in May 2015 4
Picture 4 Prices for zinc concentrate 55%min in North China in May 2015 5
Picture 5 Prices for SHG zinc ingot in May 2015 6
Picture 6 Prices for Zamak-3 zinc alloy in May 2015 7
Picture 7 Prices for rubber grade zinc oxide 99.7%min from zinc ingot in May 2015 8
Picture 8 Prices for domestic 325 mesh zinc powder 98%min in May 2015 10
Picture 9 China’s refined zinc output in 2014-2015 12
Picture 10 China’s zinc smelters’ operating rate 2013-2015 13
Picture 11 China’s zinc smelters’ stocks in 2014-2015 14
Picture 12 China’s major die-casting zinc alloy producers’ operating rate 2014-2015 15
Picture 13 Operating rate of zinc oxide plants from 2014 to 2015 16
Picture 14 China’s zinc oxide plants’ stocks in 2014-2015 17
Picture 15 China zinc ore/concentrate imports 2014-2015 20
Picture 16 Zinc ore/concentrate imported by China from Australia and Peru between Jan 2014 and April 2015 21
Picture 17 China’s refined zinc imports in 2014-2015 22
Picture 18 China’s main refined zinc import origins in 2015 23
Picture 19 China’s zinc alloy imports in 2014-2015 24
Picture 20 China zinc oxide imports in 2014-2015 24
Picture 21 Origins of China’s zinc oxide imports in 2015 25
Picture 22 China zinc powder imports in 2014-2015 26
Picture 23 Origins of China's import zinc powder in 2015 26

Table 1 Prices for zinc oxide 99.7%min produced from zinc scrap 9
Table 2 Refined zinc, zinc alloy, zinc concentrate/ore import and export in April 2015 17
Table 3 China’s top 10 zinc ore/concentrate import companies in April 2015 27

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