Further evidence as to the irrelevance of European headlines on zinc demand..
Despite Eurozone financial markets being continuously pummelled with the political fallout of the region’s debt crisis, European zinc demand actually increased by 2.9 percent, leading global refined zinc metal usage percentage growth in 2011. As the world’s largest zinc consumer, China also bolstered demand growth as the country upped its consumption by 2.1 percent for the year.
What they state is a kind of steady as she goes short-term outlook.
China in particular will be a central component to 2012 zinc activity. Recently some of the refined zinc stockpiles have diminished as zinc producers and miners have been reluctant to sell in the current price range and winter mine production has begun to wind down. However, while Barclays Capital recently noted that recent tightening of supply witnessed in Chinese zinc markets should help cushion the downward price trend in the short term, ‘there is no reason for being fundamentally bullish on zinc in the short term’.
There's no reason to be fundamentally bearish either...
Later they state...
Despite the ILZSG reporting that global zinc mine production will grow by 4.8 percent in 2012, with output coming from Burkina Faso, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, mine supply is a looming challenge for zinc markets.
With continued robust economic growth expected from a number of developing countries and a slowing of output from existing zinc mine sites, current surpluses are soon to disappear.
