SMM August 15 News: This week, the operating rate of galvanising producers stood at 58.54%, up 1.19 percentage points WoW. In terms of raw material inventories, zinc prices continued to fluctuate this week, remaining at a psychological level for downstream enterprises. Downstream enterprises mainly consumed their inventories, leading to a slight decline in zinc ingot inventories. The main reason for the increase in operating rate this week was: Ferrous metals prices continued to rise this week, prompting some end-users to stock up due to concerns about subsequent production cuts. Sales improved slightly, while galvanizing plants also worried about subsequent environmental protection-driven production restrictions and increased production to accumulate inventories, resulting in an increase in finished product inventories. However, demand for galvanized structural parts remained weak, with orders not being satisfactory. Additionally, some small enterprises in Tianjin have gradually begun to cut production due to weak orders and environmental protection pressures, while steel tower orders remained good. It is expected that next week, the operating rate may drop back slightly to around 58.30%.
