According to SMM data, die-cast zinc alloy operating rates stood at 51.8% as of last week. Looking at March expectations, the industry's operating performance is projected to decline by approximately 7 percentage points year-on-year. The main reasons for the decline in operating rates are as follows

SMM News on March 21st: According to customs data, China's die-cast zinc alloy exports in January were 531.78 tons, China's die-cast zinc alloy exports in February were 151.43 tons, and the cumulative export volume in January-February was 683.21 tons, up 37.89% year-on-year. According to historical data, the cumulative export volume from January to February this year also reached a record high in the past four years. What is the reason for this? How will China's subsequent export of die-cast zinc alloys develop?

The recent trend of zinc prices is still greatly affected by the expectation of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve under the background of inflation and funds. That, combined with the fundamentals, kept zinc prices at a high level. The logic of ore shortage remains unchanged, and domestic and imported zinc concentrate TCs are declining.

At the 2024 SMM 19th Lead and Zinc Conference and Lead and Zinc Technology Innovation Forum -Lead and Zinc Market Forum hosted by SMM, Han Zhen, senior analyst of the lead and zinc industry of SMM, analyzed the current status of the zinc market in 2024 and made a forecast on its future prices. She said that SMM expects that domestic zinc concentrate supply will be relatively tight in 2024.

In terms of macroeconomy, overseas economic data was upbeat, which led to weaker market expectations for the Fed's interest rate cut. Both the US stock market and the US index fell, while nonferrous metals prices rose. At the same time, driven by the domestic old-for-new policy, zinc prices rose significantly. On the fundamentals, the tight supply of ore remains, and zinc concentrate TCs are low. As more smelters will undertake maintenance in April, output is expected to remain low.

Under the general trend of resource integration, smelters have gradually expanded their industrial lines, added die-cast zinc alloy processing production lines, and optimized production processes, effectively reducing costs compared to traditional zinc alloy manufacturers.