Tungsten market keeps softening
2005-07-29 09:40:44 【Print】
Beijing (Asian Metal) 29 Jul 05 – The price for tungsten APT varied from RMB140,000/t to RMB170,000/t two weeks ago, and now most of suppliers quote the material at RMB130,000/t. The price had dropped, but the market is getting clear.
A Jiangxi tungsten APT smelter told Asian Metal that they have reduced their APT quote to current RMB130,000/t from RMB150,000/t earlier last week. The smelter said that they have not recieved an inquire this month yet. A sales executive said: “we give quote, but there is no business. We also reduced our production because of the slow market; we wouldn’t like over-stock.”
According to the source, they bought tungsten concentrate at the price a little higher than RMB80,000/t. “It’s really hard for us these days, the price for concentrate dropped a little, but the price for APT dropped a lot. On current market prices, we cannot make profit. I believe this is the bottom price of this summer, and the market is to turn around next month.”
A senior manager of another APT smelter said: “The market is slow, there is no point to give a quote when there isn’t any buyer, but if anyone ask, I would say RMB130,000/t is a workable price.” Last week, the smelter quoted its APT at RMB160,000/t.
“Normally we produce around 200 tons APT a month, but now we only produce around 20-30 tons a month to keep the plants open,” said the source, “No one is running full capasity. We just keep the plants runing and waiting for the market rebound. I hope it will rebound by the end of next month, like everyone says.”
