Zinc: Characteristics
The self-sacrificing coating that keeps steel alive
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 13 Mt mine output (2025e); 13.8 Mt refined (2025 forecast) | China mined 4.1 Mt, Peru 1.5 Mt and Australia 1.1 Mt. India mined 870 kt, fifth in the world. | USGS MCS 2026; ILZSG via USGS |
| Inventory and stock levels | US producer and consumer stocks 110 kt at end-2025; world market surplus forecast at 85 kt for 2025 | World refined use is about 13.7 Mt a year, about 37.5 kt a day, so an 85 kt surplus is a little over 2 days of use (derived). Visible stocks sit in LME and SHFE warehouses; LME stocks are low in historical terms (indicative). | USGS MCS 2026; ILZSG via USGS; derived |
| Capacity utilisation | not published in the sources used; refined output (13.8 Mt) slightly exceeded use (13.7 Mt) in 2025 | A large amount of new refining capacity was commissioned in China in 2025, so smelter capacity runs ahead of concentrate supply and treatment charges were low (ILZSG via USGS; indicative). Red Dog in Alaska is producing less as it nears the end of its life. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 32.2%, top-3 (China, Peru, Australia) 51.5%, HHI 1,429 (mine) | The largest producers are Hindustan Zinc (1.095 Mt zinc and lead mined, FY2025), Glencore (0.969 Mt), Teck (0.565 Mt) and Korea Zinc (0.591 Mt of ingot sales). A top-5 company share is not published on a common basis. | World Mining Data 2026; company reports via this tile's lessons |
| Supply elasticity | low to medium: new mines take 7-10 years (indicative); zinc is often mined with lead and silver | Mines are usually polymetallic, so output depends on combined revenues. Small Chinese mines and smelters respond faster to price. | this tile's lessons; industry practice (indicative) |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | modest new mine supply; capital mostly in expansions | Named projects: Hermosa in Arizona and the Bunker Hill restart in Idaho (USGS 2026). Hindustan Zinc plans to roughly double metal capacity toward 2 Mt/yr over several years (HZL, indicative). | USGS MCS 2026; HZL (indicative) |
| Logistics and export flows | zinc concentrate exports worth $9.7 billion and refined zinc $12.9 billion in 2024 | Concentrate moves from Peru, Australia, Bolivia and the US to smelters in China, Korea and Spain; China took 36% of imports by value. Red Dog ships only in the short Arctic summer season, a seasonal bottleneck. | UN Comtrade 2024; this tile's lessons |
Material characteristics Metal / hard commodity
Zinc is valued for protecting steel from rust. It corrodes in preference to iron, so a galvanised coat keeps working even when scratched. Its low melting point makes it easy to die-cast into precise parts. Purity grades decide exchange delivery and use in galvanising and alloys.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purity / grade | LME Special High Grade: at least 99.995% Zn (ASTM B6 / EN 1179 Z1) | Sets deliverability and use in alloys and continuous galvanising | LME; ASTM B6; EN 1179 |
| Corrosion behaviour | sacrificial protection of steel; zinc coats corrode about 0.7-2 micrometres a year in moderate atmospheres | Galvanising (about 60% of use) gives steel decades of life | ISO 9223 category C3 (indicative); HZL |
| Melting point | 419.5 C | Low-energy casting and hot-dip galvanising at about 450 C | ASM Handbook |
| Die-casting alloy strength | Zamak 3 about 280 MPa tensile | Precise, cheap castings for hardware and automotive parts | ASTM B240 (indicative) |
| Density | 7.14 g/cm3 | Relevant for coating weight and cost per area | ASM Handbook |
| Concentrate grade | about 50-55% Zn; penalties for iron, manganese and mercury | Sets payable metal and treatment terms | Industry practice (indicative) |