China zinc demand to outstrip production

BEIJING: A recent report shows that despite China’s proposed increases in Zinc output, a gap nevertheless remains between mine output and refined zinc demand both globally and in China itself, and that this gap may widen over time.

The report, Zinc – China and the World, is a collaboration between Sweden-based Raw Materials Group (RMG), and China-based Antaike, the leading China metals information provider. It covers the global zinc market from mine supply to refined consumption. It further looks at the structure of the industry including Chinese companies and discusses related government interaction and environmental regulations.

Globally, the main areas of zinc production are China with 3,700kt, 1,500kt in Peru and 1450kt from Australia. The distribution of zinc resources around the world is uneven. China has the largest resource base followed by Australia, Kazakhstan, Mexico and Peru. Chinese resources contain more than 10 times the amount in Australia’s resource base.

The rate of increase in zinc usage has most dramatically been seen in China over the past decade and is expected to continue in China and other emerging economies such as India, Vietnam and Brazil.

Zinc – China and the World, which sits alongside similar industry analysis papers in the IntierraRMG suite of reports, also analyses the impact of increasing raw material prices and the tightening of environmental protection regulation on China’s large enterprises and smaller smelters.

Report summaries are available from booth A41 at Mines and Money Hong Kong or by emailing [email protected].