Tellurium metal market in confrontation in China
2008-09-12 11:26:09 【Print】
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 12 Sep 08 – With some major smelters raising the tellurium prices, the tellurium metal market become deadlocked as Chinese consumers challenge the price rise, still staying away from the spot market.
“Some foreign traders sent inquiries of around four tons for the material and bid as high as USD240-250/kg early this week,” said a tellurium metal trader, adding, “Therefore, some Chinese suppliers increased their prices.”
These traders bid relatively higher prices than consumers in the solar cell industry do, because the latter will be happy to keep purchasing the material at around USD200/kg. Besides, consumers in Chinese thermal electric industry hope the price to decrease further, say somewhere around RMB800/kg (USD118/kg) . Therefore, the source concluded that the tellurium metal market may become a bit active because of the inquiries, but consumers will not come back to the market soon .
“The market may remain in confrontation for a while,” said the source, predicting that the price will go up if spot purchases continue to increase.
A producer, who has a monthly output around three tons, confirmed that the price of tellurium metal 99.99%min is stable at around RMB1,550/kg (USD228/kg). “We have insisted on the price since early August,” said the source, explaining, "We hold positive views towards the tellurium metal market, thus unwilling to sell at lower price around RMB1,400-1,500/kg (USD206-221/kg) as some suppliers do . "
The source stated that the tellurium metal market is in confrontation. "We got around one ton of inquiries from a foreign trader early this week, still negotiating the price, since the buyer insists on purchasing at around USD200/kg," said the source, hoping to conclude the deal at around USD220/kg .
Another evidence for the current deadlocked market is that thermal electric producers in China do not follow the price rise and return to the market. However, the source believes that consumers may come back to the market next month and that the market will go up then.