Zinc unwinding....., page-57

LIVE FUTURES REPORT 16/11: SHFE zinc prices continue to move up on tight supply; nickel weakens
Base metals prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed during Asian morning trading on Friday, November 16, with zinc, copper and tin registering gains while the rest of the complex weakened.​

The divergent moves coming while markets await further direction from data releases and any developments in trade talks between China and the United States following news on Thursday that the two had resumed high-level discussions.

One metal that seemed to be trading in line with its fundamentals this morning was zinc, which outperformed its peers against a backdrop of tightening supply; the most-traded January zinc contract on the SHFE stood at 21,505 yuan ($3,098) per tonne as at 9.25am Shanghai time, up by 0.8% or 165 yuan per tonne from Thursday’s close.

Global zinc consumption came at 1.16 million tonne in September, above global refined zinc output of 1.1 million tonnes, according to the data from the International Lead & Zinc Study Group (ILZSG).

The refined zinc market recorded a 54,700-tonne deficit in September and a 305,000-tonne deficit in the January-September period, ILZSG data showed.

In addition, China's refined zinc production totalled 4.14 million tonnes in January-September 2018, down 2.6% year on year, according to data from the country's National Bureau of Statistics.

Declining exchange stock levels provided further support to zinc prices.

“Falling zinc stocks, as a result, low utilization rates at Chinese smelters continues to provide a modest lift to prices. For now, we believe price risks remain skewed to the upside in the short term because tightness is likely to intensify,” Fastmarkets analyst James Moore said.

Zinc stocks on the SHFE declined for the third consecutive week to 37,378 tonnes as of November 9 – down by 51.7% from the beginning of this year.

Amy Lv

[email protected]​

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cheers............​