Liaoning's zinc concentrate imports skyrocket in first four months
Shanghai. June 15. INTERFAX-CHINA - Zinc concentrate imports of Liaoning Province soared by 135 percent year-on-year to 166,000 tons in the first four months of 2009, due to increasing demand and tighter supplies of domestically produced zinc concentrate, according to a report released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on June 12.
The Liaoning provincial government increased financial support to local zinc smelters during the four-month period, which encouraged them to import more zinc concentrate to increase refined zinc production, according to MIIT.
Huludao Zinc Industry Co. Ltd. was Liaoning's biggest zinc concentrate importer during the period, with its imports accounting for 97.6 percent of the province's total.
An unnamed employee from Huludao Zinc recently told Interfax that the company relies on imported zinc concentrate for two-thirds of its total output, while the figure was around 50 percent last year.
China imported 1.04 million tons of zinc concentrate in the first four months of 2009.
-LCL