Zinc to jump further with China likely to cut output

Shanghai

THE Chinese smelters that churn out more than 40 per cent of the world's zinc may cut production for the first time in four years because they can't get enough raw material, further lifting prices of one of this year's strongest-performing commodities.

Zinc, used for rustproofing steel in everything from car bodies to suspension bridges, has surged 25 per cent in 2016 to the highest since July as miners supply less of the ore concentrate that's refined to produce the metal, just as demand rebounds in China, the biggest user. Banks from Goldman Sachs Group to Macquarie Group see further gains, while Glencore, the biggest miner of the metal, says structural deficits are back.