Global zinc consumption increased 3.7% to 11.4 million metric tons exceeded production by just 15,000 metric tons in 2007, down sharply from a 352,000 metric ton deficit in 2006, accord to preliminary data from the International Lead and Zinc Study Group. Purchasing growth in China of 15.2%, India of 7% and Europe of 2.3% more than offset the falloff in the U.S. Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan resulting in an overall rise from 10.999 million metric tons in 2006.

The latest Natixis Commodity Markets forecast says "the zinc market is facing the prospects of higher supply against a background of relatively weak demand." While the London-based economists had thought there would be a revival in world demand as 2008 progressed, they now say that "the economic data released so far this year, together with the bearish data relating to the galvanized steel sector, suggest that the period of demand weakness has continued.