China: Zinc exports down sharply m-o-m in Jul'22

China's zinc exports stood at 2,790 tonnes (t) in July, a sharp decline of 65% m-o-m against 7,969 t a month ago, as per data maintained with SteelMint.

However, zinc exports in January-July 2022 were recorded at 68,277 t.

Semi-finished exports fall over 70%: Semi finished exports stood at 2,790 t in the month under review, a sharp decrease of 71.62% m-o-m against 7,167 t in the previous month.

Taiwan was the largest importer with 1,525 t followed by Vietnam with 303 t.

Finished zinc exports down:

China exported a total of 535 t of finished (finish flat) zinc material in the month under review as against 597 t in June, a decrease of 10.39% m-o-m. The US was the largest importer with around 145 t followed by Japan with around 40 t.

The total exported volume of finished long material was at 222 t, a rise of 8% m-o-m as against 204 t in June 2022, where Japan imported 22 t.

Production scenario

China's zinc production was recorded at 0.52 mnt in July, a decrease of 5% as against 0.55 mnt in June 2022, as per data maintained with SteelMint. Production volumes dropped owing to extended maintenance works at smelting plants at some specific regions amid partial lockdowns in the country, SteelMint noted.

Total production in January-July 2022 was recorded at 3.80 mnt, almost stable as against the same period last year.

Further, If we consider China's household per capita income in the first half of the year, it registered a nominal increase of 4.7% over the same period of last year and a real increase of 3% after deducting price factors and further segregated on urban and rural residents.

Sales of commercial buildings

At the end of June, the area of commercial housing for sale was 547.84 million square meters, an increase of 7.3% y-o-y. Among them, the residential area for sale increased by 13.5%.

From January to June, the sales area of commercial housing was 689.23 million square meters, a y-o-y decrease of 22.2 percent; among them, the residential sales area decreased by 26.6%. The sales volume of commercial housing was 6,607.2 billion yuan, down 28.9%; among them, residential sales decreased by 31.8%.

CPI y-o-y and m-o-m data

In July 2022, the national Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 2.7% y-o-y. Among them, the urban growth rate was 2.6%, and the rural growth rate was 3%.

In July, the national consumer price rose by 0.5% m-o-m. Among them, the urban growth rate was 0.4%, and the rural growth rate was 0.5% as per statisitics report.