FEATURE ARTICLE-- 2020 – Year in Review

摘要

2020 was a year of global economic catastrophe as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly spread around the globe and halted much of life as we know it; governments were left with no alternative to place nations into lockdown, halting steelmaking production and automotive manufacturing. The Asia zinc spot price was hit as a result, sliding to its lowest point in March at US$1,981/t. However, as China began to resume activity and brought its economy back to life through a massive infrastructure investment injection, the zinc price strongly rebounded and extended gains. By December, the price had risen to $2,936/t, up from US$2,460.9/t in January. Overall, the Asia zinc spot price averaged at US$2,390.9/t for 2020, a decrease of 12.1% from 2019. As the pandemic spread to Europe, the Europe zinc spot price had a similar fall, tumbling bottom price in April at US$1,893.6/t. However, the prices had a moderate recovery to US$1,958/t in Q2 and continued climb to US$2,338.4/t in Q3 and US$2,631.9 in Q4 as China bought up the low-cost zinc and reduced the price arbitrage. For the year, the Europe zinc spot price was US$2,265.6, which is a decrease of 10.8% from the previous year.