Our latest article was about tungsten, today we will be discussing the 10 largest zinc producing countries in the world from Insider Monkey’s website. The largest zinc producing countries actually put 13 million tons of zinc on the market last year. Comparing this number with the data of 2018, we can see that the zinc producing increased by 4% from 2018 to 2019. This increase mainly derives from Australia, South Africa and China.
Why is zinc so important? Because it has extremely lots of uses, one of the most well-known uses is galvanization. Other use of zinc is zinc oxide, which is an important element in rubber, paints, or pharmaceuticals. It’s also used in coins, especially in penny. The penny contains 97.5% zinc, the rest is made of copper.
When it comes to the the value of zinc production in the US, we can see an outstanding number, in 2019 it was worth $2.1 billion. However, with this number, the United States is only on the fifth spot, while the first three countries are China, Peru and Australia. Nothing new, we could say, since if you have followed us in the last couple of weeks, you can see, that the main players are the same in almost all markets.
The main use of zinc in the US is galvanizing steel and iron, and it is mined in only six states. Therefore America needs to import zinc from other countries, such as Canada, Australia, Peru and Mexico.
And now, let’s have a look at the list of the 10 largest zinc producing countries in the world, based on Insider Monkey’s article.
10. Kazakhstan
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 304
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 290
9. Canada
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 287
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 300
8. Russia
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 300
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 300
7. Bolivia
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 480
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 460
6. Mexico
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 691
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 690
5. United States of America
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 824
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 780
4. India
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 750
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 800
3. Australia
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 1,110
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 1,300
2. Peru
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 1,470
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 1,400
1. China
Production of zinc in 2018 (in thousand metric tons): 4,170
Production of zinc in 2019 (in thousand metric tons): 4,300
China produces around three times more zinc than the second largest producing country, Peru. Therefore, it has deserved its first spot on the list of 10 largest zinc producing countries in the world.
