Arsenic metal prices climb up in China
2009-11-05 09:17:51 【Print】
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 5 Nov 09 – As the supply of arsenic metal remains tight in Chinese market, suppliers increase offers accordingly. However, participants believe that there would be little room for the price to rise further.
A trader in Hunan with sales volume of over 1,000tpy offers arsenic metal 99%min at around RMB8,200/t (USD1,200/t) delivered to Guangzhou port currently, up from RMB7,700-7,800/t (USD1,127-1,142/t) in October. “Many plants can not resume production due to environmental concerns, leading to a tighter supply,” said the source, adding that a major producer in Hunan will restart production late this month, which will ease the tightness accordingly.
The source disclosed that they exported 7 containers of arsenic metal 99%min in October, and the export volume in November will be the same with that last month. “However, it does not mean the demand from overseas consumers picks up obviously, and we did not conclude any export deals in August and September,” said the source, adding that consumers only come back to make purchase to maintain normal production.
A Hunan-based producer with the previous output of 100tpm confirmed that arsenic metal 99%min prices increase slightly to over RMB8,000/t (USD1,171/t) delivered to Guangzhou port, up by about RMB300-400/t (USD44-59/t) compared with that a month ago. “However, we have no plan to restart production due to small profits and environmental issues,” said the source, adding that they only produce arsenic trioxide for a while and may restart production of arsenic metal next year.
“Although the price of arsenic trioxide, the raw material of arsenic metal, keeps stable, the production cost continues to go up due to increased power charges,” said the source, adding that demand from domestic market remains dim. In this case, the source anticipates that the prices may not go up greatly in the near term.
