Nickel and zinc have record shortages in the first half of 2016 - WBMS

The latest Balance of Metals report published by the World Bureau of Metals Statistics (WBMS) indicates that the nickel market ended in deficit between January and June 2016. In addition, tin and zinc were also deficient during this period.

The global nickel market ended in a shortage of 80,800 tons in January-June 2016 with an obvious excess of demand over production. Considering that the positive balance reached 45.2 thousand tons throughout 2015, according to the WBMS. The output of nickel mines amounted to 956.7 thousand tons in January-June 2016, which is lower by 100.4 thousand tons compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. Consumption of refined nickel in January-June 2016 increased by 134 thousand tons compared to the previous year.

The global zinc market recorded a deficit in January-June this year, recording a surplus throughout 2015. According to the WBMS, a deficit of 32 thousand tons was registered in the world zinc market during the first six months of this year from January to June. It should be noted that the worldwide zinc market had a surplus of 167 thousand tons throughout 2015.

Global production of refined zinc decreased by 4.8% in the first six months of 2016. Chinese production of refined zinc locally decreased slightly by almost 0.7% compared to 2015.

According to the WBMS, the global tin market recorded a slight deficit of 7.2 thousand tons during the first six months of this year. Global production of refined tin shows a slight increase of 12.80 thousand tons in six months. Asian production amounted to 151.9 thousand tons during January-June 2016, which is higher than 138.9 thousand tons during the corresponding period last year.