Chinese ferrotungsten producers refuse to take risks
2005-10-26 09:16:17 【Print】
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 26 Oct 05 – Since last week, European traders told Asian Metal that the price of ferrotungsten has dropped to around USD31/kg in warehouse Rotterdam, while Chinese suppliers still conclude for USD32/kg CIF Rotterdam. However, Chinese producers told Asian Metal that they won’t take a risk of buying a high price tungsten concentrate, and then drop the ferrotungsten price.
Although there is a sign that the tungsten concentrate is sliding down this week, but it still concludes for above RMB110,000/t (USD209/mtu). As it is, majors Chinese ferrotungsten smelters are preparing to stop production and some of them that have suspended production decide not come back as quick as expected.
An official of a major smelter said, “Traders bid the price for USD31-31.5/kg CIF Rotterdam recently, which we can’t accept. Meanwhile, I learnt that a few deals of small quantity were concluded for around USD31.5/kg in warehouse Rotterdam. We won’t gamble on the market.”
According to the source, the smelter stopped production early October. Last week, the smelter sold 10t of ferrotungsten at a price of RMB180,000/t (USD22,250/t) in domestic market.
A close source of another large smelter told Asian Metal that the smelter postponed resuming production till November, but the source gave no details. “We received a quotation around USD31/kg CIF Rotterdam a week ago. It’s much lower than our expectation at USD33/kg.”
In early September, the smelter announced it is stopping production till mid-October with no stock on hand at that time. According to the source, the current price of tungsten concentrate is still around RMB112,000/t (USD213/mtu) in Chinese market.
Both sources confirmed that their smelters won’t take a risk of purchasing high price concentrate at the moment.
