June 26, 2012

Amid limited trade reported due to the availability of domestic supply, spot treatment charges for imported zinc concentrate paid to China smelters were in the range of US$80-100/tonne in June, down from US$80-110/tonne in May, market participants said Tuesday (June 26).

"For materials with loose packaging, there were deals inked at TCs of US$80/tonne this month, while for those in cartons, deals were at fees of US$90-100/tonne," a zinc concentrate supplier in Northwest China said.

"But there were not a lot of deals as this month, sourcing domestic material could earn TCs of CNY800-1,000 (US$126-157) per tonne more," he added.

A zinc smelter source in Southwest China said, "TCs were at US$80-90/tonne this month, but we haven't imported any material. We would rather wait and see upcoming TC movement to decide whether to import or not"

TCs, the fees paid to smelters by mines for converting the concentrate into refined zinc, are typically a key source of revenue for smelters.

In Henan Province, a third source at another zinc smelter said, "Lately we have mainly sourced zinc concentrate from the domestic market as it is better economically. However, sometimes we do import material so as to maintain a trade relationship with overseas suppliers."

China imported 772,490 tonnes of zinc concentrate over January-May, down 35% from the same period last year, customs figures showed. It produced more than double that volume, 1.876 million tonnes of zinc concentrate, over January-May, up 22% on year, figures from National Statistics Bureau showed.