Fitch lowers 2019 zinc price to $2,500 a tonne despite strong fundamentals

Ongoing US-China trade war weighing on prices even as production declines by 1.1% y-o-y in Jan-Jun, while consumption grows by 2.3% in the same period

Citing continued deterioration of investor sentiment on the back of ongoing US-China trade war which is weighing on the economy, Fitch Solutions Macro Research today lowered its average global zinc price estimates to $2,500 per tonne for 2019 from $2,600 per tonne earlier.

This is despite tightening fundamentals, as global zinc slab production has declined by 1.1 per cent y-o-y in Jan-Jun, while consumption has grown by 2.3 per cent y-o-y in the same period.

Furthermore, global inventories continue to fall, declining steadily since March 2019 to reach 285,000 tonne in September, said the report.

“We expect prices to stabilise