China’s Refined Zinc Production Drops Amid Raw Material Shortages
According to data from Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), China's refined zinc production in July 2024 fell to 489,600 tons, marking a 10.3% decrease from the previous month and an 11.2% drop compared to July 2023. For the first seven months of 2024, total refined zinc output in China decreased by 2.8% year-on-year to 3.671 million tons.
The decline in production has been attributed to several factors, including seasonal disruptions and ongoing raw material shortages. Specifically, operations at several enterprises in Sichuan province were halted due to flooding. However, the primary challenge facing the industry remains the scarcity of raw materials, which continues to impact production capacity.
In July, China imported 375,400 tons of zinc concentrate, which represents a 39.3% increase from June but is still 4.7% lower than the same period last year. Over the first seven months of 2024, the country imported 2.0905 million tons of zinc concentrate, a 21.8% decline compared to the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, domestic production of zinc ore has also seen a downturn.
Research firm Atnaike predicts that the trend of declining refined zinc production in China will likely persist in the second half of 2024. The conditions for importing zinc concentrate are worsening, and efforts to establish new domestic mining capacities have yet to yield significant results.
Despite these challenges, China imported 240,500 tons of refined zinc in the first seven months of the year, an increase of 37.4% compared to the previous year. However, imports in July alone dropped sharply to 18,500 tons, down nearly 50% from June and fourfold from the same period last year, due to unfavorable pricing conditions.
