The 10th Antimony Forum was successfully held by Asian Metal on March 21-22 in Zhuhai, China, with support from Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Co., Ltd., Hunan Nonferrous Industry Investment Group Chenzhou Mining and Guangxi Youngsun Chemicals Co., Ltd. In the lovely and splendid spring, about 300 representatives from China, USA, Belgium, Tajikistan, India, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and other countries and regions attended the forum to communicate freely on the development of antimony industry. With the theme of Deepening Cooperation for a Win-Win Future, the forum aims to boost global cooperation, promote international communication, enhance confidence, build consensus and unite together for the development of antimony industry in the future. This is indeed a successful forum, where there were no empty seats and attendees looked back the past, thought about the future, consolidated the friendship with old friends, made new friends, summarized experience and explored new business opportunities together for future development. Now in its 10th year, Asia Metal's Antimony Forum is an annual event for companies in the global antimony industry to exchange, negotiate and gather together, promoting linkage and integration through service and cooperation.

The forum began formally at 9 am on March 21 when Mr. Ben Jiang, the Director of Content of Asian Metal, announced the opening of the forum as the host and expressed his sincere welcome and heartfelt gratitude to old and new friends to the forum on behalf of Asian Metal. Mr. Jiang noted that 2023 coincided with momentous changes and turbulences never seen in the past ten decades and the global macro-economy was faced with a headwind, but driven by the strong momentum of growth for exports of three types of new products including photovoltaic products, antimony products were in a state of supply shortage, market confidence was enhanced and prices rose. Mr. Jiang further pointed out that it's a good opportunity for antimony insiders to gather together in the beautiful spring in Zhuhai, the City of One Hundred Islands, to discuss industry plans and embark on a new journey.

First, Mr. Jiasheng Li, the General Manager of Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Co., Ltd., the sponsor of the forum, delivered a wonderful opening speech for this grand event. Mr. Li firstly extended a warm welcome to all the guests and friends attending the forum, expressed his sincere gratitude to friends from all walks of life who had long cared for the development of the company he stayed in and at the same time, showed his appreciation to Asian Metal for holding this grand event, mentioning that it provided every attendee with the opportunity to showcase their own styles and communicate fully. Mr. Li then emphasized that the world today is undergoing profound changes and the antimony market is also facing many uncertainties and unforeseeable challenges, but antimony, as a non-renewable strategic resource, is receiving increasing attention from the international community, and its price will inevitably return to its value. According to Mr. Li, insiders in the antimony industry must have foresight and wisdom to actively adapt to changes in market demand, strengthen cooperation and communication, continuously promote technological progress and accelerate the formation of new quality productivity, so as to make great contributions to achieving industrial prosperity and sustainable development.

Afterwards, Mr. Yongmiao He, the Chairman of Chenzhou Mining under Hunan Nonferrous Industry Investment Group, another sponsor of the forum, made an excellent opening address. Mr. He extended a warm welcome to all guests and colleagues in the antimony industry from around the world and showed his sincere congratulations to the opening of the forum. Mr. He stated that antimony is a precious strategic resource in China and is related to the overall security of the country, adding that the antimony industry underwent significant changes in the past year with macroeconomic pressures, weak social expectations, insufficient traditional consumer demand, rapid development of the photovoltaic industry, prominent supply contradictions, rising prices and continuously increasing risks. Chenzhou Mining has been doing antimony business for many years, going forwards shoulder to shoulder with friends within the industry and witnessing not only challenges and hardships, but also persistence and harvest in the industry. Currently, in the face of new situations and characteristics, antimony insiders could only maintain market stability and promote common development by uniting more closely, strengthening dialogue, enhancing mutual trust, and helping each other. Mr. He finally pointed out that Chenzhou Mining is ready to work with antimony insiders to keep track of the overall direction and main tone for the development of antimony industry, attach great importance to exchanges among antimony companies, activate mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and inject new impetus into the development of the antimony industry and the security of national strategic resources.

The last but equally important opening speech was given by Ms. Xia Zhao, the Deputy General Manager from Guizhou Dongfeng Antimony Co., Ltd. Ms. Zhao also expressed her heartfelt welcome and best wishes to all attendees of the forum as well as her sincere congratulations to the successful opening of the grand event. Ms. Zhao noted that the average annual price of antimony rose to a new high in the history boosted by tightened supply in spite of weakened demand in the overseas market and sharper fluctuations in the bulk commodity market resulting from frequent international geopolitical conflicts. According to her, with profound changes taking place in the world pattern, there are many uncertainties and challenges in the current international trade and investment environment, leading to increasingly prominent risks for the security of the antimony industrial chain and supply chain and uncertain factors. Under the positive influences brought by the development of antimony resources worldwide and rapider development of the new energy field, this forum held in 2024 could provide a timely opportunity for antimony insiders to review the past, summarize experience, grasp development opportunities and illuminate the future. Ms. Zhao believed that the forum will definitely lead to agreement on more issues, enhance industrial cohesion and contribute more wisdom to the sound and high-quality development of the antimony industry!

Next, the meeting moved ahead with report presentation section. The first speaker was Mr. Jianjun Gong, Vice General Manager of Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Co., Ltd. who made a speech titled Value Returns Value Discovery. He pointed out that during the past year in the antimony industry there were no more compelling topics than prices as antimony prices rose by 160%, hitting the highest point in the recent 13 years. He attributed increases in antimony prices to three reasons, including: supply-demand relation determined antimony prices and supply shortage would be the main theme in the future; notably growing HSE costs further drove antimony prices up; and strategic significance of antimony was acknowledged and its value was confirmed. Mr. Gong emphasized that, under pressures from mining quota, environmental protection, cost controlling, etc., China as the world's major antimony ore supplier witnessed its antimony ore production declining year by year, leading to continuously shrinking antimony ore supply to the global market. Now in China antimony resources keep shrinking and antimony resource reserves in developed deposits keep decreasing with geologic grade falling year by year. In the future, China might further expand antimony raw material imports and accordingly China will change from a dominating role in antimony resources and smelting to a dominant country in antimony smelting. Next, Mr. Gong stated that market inventory of antimony product stayed at a historically low level now, and his company adopted inventory strategy which could be described as two lows, one high and one rapid, referring to low product inventory, low intermediate material inventory, high raw material inventory, and rapid turnover. Next, Mr. Gong pointed out that growths in demand for antimony products were the important driving force for antimony price increases. As most countries around the world have made commitments to carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals while grid parity of solar PV system has been enforced in China, new PV installments around the world are expected to grow at high speeds. At last, Mr. Gong emphasized strategic positioning of China Minmetals and Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star, that is to safeguard healthy and sustainable development of upstream, midstream and downstream fields of the Chinese antimony industry; to ensure that values of antimony are fully understood and acknowledged; to ensure the company and employees' dignity and welfare; and to ensure security of China's antimony strategic reserves.

Next, Mr. Shang Zou, Deputy General Manager of Chenzhou Mining under Hunan Nonferrous Industry Investment Group made a speech titled Safeguard National Security of Strategic Resources, Enhance Values of Antimony Resources. Mr. Zou firstly emphasized importance of mineral resources for China. Mineral resources are important material basis for economic and social development, and mineral prospecting and development is critical for peoples' livelihood and national security. Prospecting and supply of mineral resources now in China can be described as three decreases and three increases. Three Decreases indicate continuous reduction in inputs into mineral prospecting, in growths of resource reserves, and in mineral production, while Three Increases mean growing dependence on overseas mineral resources, increasing overseas proportion in mineral supply and growing risks in security of mineral resources. Mr. Zou made in-depth analysis on the status quo of the Chinese antimony industry. He thought that the Chinese antimony industry faced the following issues, including decreasing resource reserves, seriously undervalued resources, low industrial self-discipline, and insufficient policy support, and he called for full society to value the extreme importance of antimony resources as we can't measure the values of antimony only from its economic aggregate, but instead more consider its significance to national security. Mr. Zou mentioned that companies should also strive to enhance four levels and two capacities in their development. Besides clinging to the conventional consumption fields, antimony companies should also actively cultivate new applications. With carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals widely acknowledged around the world, PV-purpose antimony is likely to replace fire retardant to be the leading antimony-consuming industry. Meanwhile, liquid Sb battery technology is getting mature and is expected to bring new technical options for energy storing, so new breakthroughs in antimony applications are expected to happen soon.

Next, Mr. Haisheng Zhang, General Manager of Beijing Gold Antimony Industry Co., Ltd. made a speech Analysis on Antimony Market in 2023 and Market Outlook throughout 2024. He firstly made in-depth analysis on the global economic situation in 2023, pointing out that global economic growth slowed down from 3.5% in 2022 to 2.6% in 2023, hitting the lowest level since 2001 (2.5%) except that during global financial crisis and COVID-19 periods. He stated that, though antimony prices stayed at a high level, gaps between antimony prices in China and international market grew more notable. Mr. Zhang then shared data on China's antimony imports and exports, including antimony oxide exports, antimony ingot exports and antimony concentrate imports, showing us the real picture of China's antimony exports with detailed figures. He next made analysis on antimony imports (consumption side) of major countries and regions, including U.S., E.U., Japan, South Korea, India, and Taiwan, China, in relation to their imports and exports of antimony oxide and antimony ingot and major supply countries. Generally speaking, in 2023 international demand for antimony products was soft and there were observable decreases in demand from E.U., U.S., Japan, and Taiwan, China. Demand from eight major export destinations fell by around 9,000t or about 12% YoY, and demand outside China declined by around 10,000t throughout 2023. At last, Mr. Zhang also made analysis on antimony exports (supply side) of major countries and regions, including Russia's antimony concentrate and gold concentrate exports, Tajikistan's antimony products supply, Myanmar's antimony products supply, Australia's antimony concentrate exports, America's antimony products supply, and Africa's antimony concentrate exports. At the end of his speech, Mr. Zhang presented his outlook and analysis on antimony exports in 2024.

Subsequently, Dr. Hans Vercammen, President of the International Antimony Association (I2a), conducted a brilliant report analysis on the current situation of production and consumption of antimony metals and antimony compounds in Europe. Mr. Vercammen deeply analyzed the current situation of antimony and ATO trade in the EU. In 2023, the import volume of antimony metal in the EU kept low at about 16,582 tons. 52% of the worldwide antimony ingot trade is done with EU, and most antimony ingot imports are for ATO production within EU. At present, the proportion of antimony ingots imported from China in the European market has declined sharply. In 2010, about 82% of antimony ingots were imported from China in the EU, and currently only 18% are imported from China, while the proportion of imports from Tajikistan is as high as 46%, followed by Vietnam, Myanmar, and Oman. In 2023, the EU's ATO import volume was low at 3,635 tons. Mr. Vercammen also analyzed the current situation of antimony demand in Europe and the United States: Since the summer of 2022, ATO demand in the EU has kept weak, and downstream demand has been mainly concentrated in the construction industry, with an average decline of 20%-30%; Automotive compounds are in fierce competition with Asian resources; Anticipated recovery of Chinese economy did not come; Halogen-free trend and threat from EU REACH; ATO for PET (on the resin level) under global competition. He then analyzed the EU green Deal, the EU's European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and REACH, which are currently in the spotlight. I2a and BSEF are working together to advocate halogen+ATO based FR solutions for the FR market. Finally, Mr. Vercammen made a prediction on the development prospect of ATO.

Mr. Jun Wu, Technical General Manager of General Plastics Department of Kingfa Technology Co., Ltd., gave a wonderful speech on the application and development trends of antimony compounds in modified plastics. Mr. Wu conducted in-depth analysis and discussion on the global distribution and consumption trends of antimony resources, interpretation of antimony related policies and regulations, demand trends for antimony white in modified plastics, and technical trends of antimony white products for modified plastics, targeting the largest consumer enterprise of ATO in China. Mr. Wu said that in terms of demand, the installed capacity of photovoltaic modules has risen sharply since 2020. The demand for sodium pyroantimonate, an excellent glass refining agent, has further expanded, and it is expected that the global demand for antimony metal in the field of photovoltaic glass will reach 42,000 tons in 2025; In the field of FR, it is estimated that the global demand for antimony metal in the field would reach 71,000 tons in 2025, and the traditional demand for antimony would be still strong; Despite strict domestic mining policies and increasing environmental protection, China's antimony production has long been ranked first in the world. However, excessive antimony resource exploitation in early stage depleted domestic antimony resource reserves rapidly. With the replacement of halogen-free FR in the future, it is expected that this proportion will decline year by year. Given the environmental disadvantages of brominated FR and the high price of antimony metal, the proportion of antimony doped may decrease. Mr. Wu made a professional analysis on the demand trend of antimony in modified plastics - flame retardant mechanism. The application range of antimony in modified plastics is mainly concentrated in special engineering plastics, engineering plastics and general plastics. Subsequently, Mr. Wu analyzed the effect of Sb2O3 particle size on the properties of modified plastics - flame retardant efficiency. Sb2O3 particles are fully combined with halogen compounds and mixed evenly in the resin matrix, which will increase its flame retardant efficiency. The finer the particle size of Sb2O3, the higher its dispersion in FR, the larger the contact reaction surface, and the better its flame retardant performance. Finally, Mr. Wu analyzed the application trend of antimony white in modified plastics and explained in detail the application limitations of Sb2O3 in transparent flame retardant products.

The report presentation section resumed at 2:00 p.m. Firstly, Mr. Vitaly Butkeev, Head of logistics and foreign-economic activity of GPM Chemicresource LLC gave a splendid speech on the analysis of the current situation of production and consumption of antimony products in the Russian market. Russia ranks second in antimony reserves, only behind China. Russia has approximately 350,000 tons of antimony reserves, accounting for 23% of global antimony reserves. At the same time, Russia is the world's second largest exporter of antimony after China. In 2023 and 2022, Russia exported 67,100 tons and 17,200 tons of antimony metal, respectively. The largest antimony exporting companies in Russia are Novoangarsk, GeoProMining Group, and Polus. The total exports of the above-mentioned companies reached 16,300 tons and 66,000 tons in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Then, Mr. Vitaly Bukhyev conducted an in-depth analysis of the current status of the main antimony mine resources in Russia, mainly analyzing the resource reserves and operational status of the three major mines located in Russia. He stated that Russia's existing antimony ore reserves still have the potential to increase. In 2022 and 2023, Russian antimony enterprises exported a total of 49,300 tons and 34,200 tons of antimony concentrate and raw ore, respectively. Subsequently, Mr. Vitaly Bukyev conducted an analysis of the demand for ATO in Russia. The annual consumption of ATO in Russia is about 2,500 tons, and the main ATO consumer enterprises in Russia are PVC materials, rubber products and composite materials producers.

Subsequently, Mr. Lin Chen, a member of Lengshuijiang Antimony Industry Association and Deputy General Manager of Hunan Zhenqiang Antimony Industry Co., Ltd., gave a great speech on "Analysis of Antimony Market Operation and Future Development Prospects in 2023". Mr. Chen analyzed the basic situation of Lengshuijiang Antimony Industry Association, the challenges and opportunities faced by the antimony industry in 2023, future solutions and development, as well as the current status and future prospects of the antimony market. Mr. Chen stated that through continuous elimination, restructuring, and mergers in the antimony industry in Lengshuijiang, existing enterprises have acquired a smelting and deep processing capacity of over 40,000 tons of antimony ingot, and a smelting capacity of 2 tons of gold. The production of antimony products reached about 15,000 tons and 13,000 tons in 2022 and 2023 respectively, with a decrease year by year, which puts severe challenges on the survival of enterprises. Mr. Chen stated that in 2023, domestic antimony enterprises face difficulties such as a decline in the grade of antimony ore in domestic mines, high environmental protection requirements in China, a gradual decrease in the number of mines that can be mined domestically, restrictions from various trade barriers in China, and the depletion of historical antimony containing materials; At the same time, enterprises also bear pressure from foreign antimony resource supply that is still tight and cannot be relieved in the short term, as well as environmental and safety policies. Finally, Mr. Chen analyzed the current development status of the upstream and downstream markets for antimony products, especially the demand for FR, polyester catalysts and photovoltaic glass.

Subsequently, Mr. Mangeng Lyu, Technical Director of Guangdong Yuxing Fire-retardant New Materials Co., Ltd., gave a wonderful report on "Thermal Conductive Flame Retardant Composite Materials Based on Phosphorene/Antimony Trioxide". Mr. Lyu first introduced the purpose of studying flame-retardant polymers, which is to change the combustion characteristics of polymer materials to make them difficult to ignite; to reduce the propagation speed of flames and the heat release rate of materials. Later, Mr. Lyu presented flame-retardant polymer materials, explaining intrinsic flame-retardant and filled flame-retardant materials as well as their respective advantages and disadvantages. The polymer main chain or side chain contains atoms or groups with flame retardant effect (such as nitrogen, silicon, phosphorus and halogen, etc.), which have the disadvantages of high cost and narrow application window; the halogen retardant in the flame retardant composite polymer matrix can cause heavy environmental pollution, inorganic flame retardant resins have poor compatibility, phosphorus/nitrogen flame retardants are added in large amounts and easily absorb moisture, reactive flame retardants have few varieties and narrow application ranges, and two-dimensional material flame retardants are environmentally friendly, efficient and multifunctional. Then, Mr. Lyu focused on sharing the research results, namely amino resin microencapsulated phosphorene nanosheets, ruthenium p-toluenesulfonate coordination-modified phosphorene nanosheets, covalently modified phosphorene nanosheets, and plasma surface modified phosphorene nanosheets, as well as research results such as plasma + ball milling exfoliation of phosphorene + antimony trioxide.

Finally, Mr. Kyoji Matsuda, Director and General Manager of Sales Department of Nihon Seiko Co., Ltd., made a wonderful report on "Analysis of Market Demand for Antimony Trioxide in Japan". Mr. Kyoji Matsuda gave a brief introduction to the development history and current status of Nihon Seiko Co., Ltd. The company was established in 1935 and had the total sales of 15.923 billion yen in FY2023, of which antimony products accounted for approximately 9.737 billion yen. At present, the company's main products include antimony metal, antimony trioxide, sodium antimonate, antimony trisulfide and antimony pentasulfide. Japan's antimony trioxide market demand is used in flame retardant additives, pigments, glass and others, of which flame retardant additives account for about 83%. Japan's antimony ingots are mainly imported from countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand and South Korea. Japan's demand for antimony trioxide recorded 6,930 tons in 2023, down from 8,615 tons in 2022. The total antimony ingot imports in 2023 were approximately 4,800 tons, down from 5,200 tons in 2022, mainly from China, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea and other regions. Japan's antimony trioxide imports in 2023 reached around 3,300 tons, down from 4,400 tons in 2022, 80% of which was imported from China. In the end, Mr. Kyoji Matsuda forecast that the demand for antimony trioxide in Japan would increase year by year and the annual demand for antimony trioxide in Japan might rise to about 120,000 tons by 2050. The terminal application field is mainly concentrated in EV car, fuel cell car, mild plug-in hybrid car, mild hybrid car and engine car, but the consumption of engine car will gradually decrease. The electrification rate is expected to increase by up to about 50%.

Later on, the report session of the forum ended, and after a short coffee break, forum entered the roundtable session with celebrities. The roundtable session was hosted by Mr. Jun Liu, General Manager of Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Import and Export Co., Ltd., and the panelists included Mr. Jiasheng Li from Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Co., Ltd., Mr. Shang Zou, Deputy General Manager of Chenzhou Mining under Hunan Nonferrous Industry Investment Group, Mr. Hans Vercammen, Chairman of the i2a (International Antimony Association), Mr. Haisheng Zhang, General Manager of Beijing Golden Antimony Industry Co., Ltd., Mr. Wei Li, Purchasing Director of Zhuhai Kingfa Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., Ms. Hairong Geng, Board Chairman of Luoyang Hai Hui New Material Co., Ltd., and Mr. Jiangen Wang, General Manager of Yiyang Huachang Antimony Industry Co., Ltd. The discussion session focused on the current price trend forecast of antimony products in 2024, the current status of supply, demand and inventory as well as future prospects of the antimony ingot market in domestic smelters, the development dilemma faced by the terminal application field of antimony trioxide, the analysis of the impact of antimony product demand in the photovoltaic market on antimony product prices, the supply status analysis and development forecast of international antimony resources. as well as the current development status of the antimony product processing market, and they had a great live discussion.

At 6:00 pm, the reciprocal dinner started. The dinner was full of guests and very lively. Everyone drank and cheered. Asian Metal carefully arranged the toast songs and dances rich in local ethnic characteristics for all participants to wish them happiness and blessings. Accompanied by laughter, cheers, singing and dancing, the 10th Antimony Forum came to a successful conclusion. Everyone expressed congratulations on the grand success of this conference. The conference output the latest directions and development trends of the industry and gave valuable suggestions for future development. At the same time, the conference introduced domestic and foreign upstream and downstream resources to provide everyone with a platform for full communication between supply parties and demand parties. We believe that through in-depth exchanges with the guests, by reviewing the past and summarizing experience, we will be able to enlighten the future, seize opportunities and explore foresight! This forum will definitely gather more consensus for the prosperity and development of the antimony industry, enhance market confidence in antimony products, strengthen industry cohesion, and contribute to the sound and healthy development of the antimony industry! Let us look forward to the "11th Antimony Forum" next year when more industry insiders at home and abroad will participate. Let's meet again in 2025!