Market participants worry about sudden turn-back of antimony
2005-08-25 10:18:13 【Print】
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 25 Aug 05 – In spite of the high expectations of many Chinese suppliers imbued in current antimony market, some market participants worry that the market might experience possible turn back, albeit slightly.
A Hong Kong-based trader reported that the company has not concluded any antimony ingot deals in the past two weeks. “I doubt the reality of the concluded price of USD3,600/t FOB that some suppliers claimed to have made recently,” said the source. “Most of our clients in European said that they wouldn’t accept such a price.”
As it is difficult to obtain antimony ingot from domestic market, the source does not dare to purchase at a high price such as RMB29,000/t. “If we purchase at such a price, we’ll have to quote at least USD3,700 FOB in order to get some profit,” the source said. “It’s obvious that buyers will turn down such a high price.”
While the European market has not yet returned to normal, transactions are very limited in the spot market. “As far as I know, the market still remained very quiet,” the source said. “I’m not sure whether the concluded price will rise as high as expected.”
A second trader from Hong Kong said that he was confused about the current market. While some suppliers claimed that they have sold at a price as high as USD3,650/t CIF Rotterdam, some European customers told the trader that they could get materials at USD3,500/t in the spot market. “It’s not strange that foreign buyers thought that Chinese suppliers are trying to manipulate the market,” said the source.
According to the source, despite the seemingly rising market, only few deals were reported in the past ten days. If there is not much business that is completed when European buyers are back to the offices at early September, the antimony price is likely to experience a turn back at that time.
