Hindustan Zinc: All eyes on production growth

Needed to compensate for softness in base metal prices due to geopolitical concerns

Improving production and realisations continue to drive Hindustan Zinc’s (HZL’s) performance. For the quarter ending March (fourth or Q4 of 2016-17), it saw mined metal production surge 66 per cent year-on-year and 13 per cent sequentially, to 312,000 tonnes.

With the average per-tonne price of zinc on the London Metal Exchange at $2,770 (up 65 per cent over a year) and lead at $2,269 (up 30 per cent) in Q4, the company was expected to post a strong performance. In Q4, revenue at Rs 6,699 crore almost doubled from the year-before period. Attributed to strong zinc, lead and silver prices, as