Unclear market for antimony

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 11-Mar-2005 Although some Chinese sellers have greatly raised the price of antimony ingot by offering as high as RMB26,000/T for domestic sales and USD3,200/T CIF for export, it seems that even industry participants are puzzled by the current market.

"The price varies so much that I don't know how much to charge for our products," a senior sales manager from a Hunan-based antimony smelter told Asian Metal. "We heard that contracted prices were somewhere in the wide range of RMB24,500-25,800/T in the current market.Asian Metal Copyright"The price varies so much that I don't know how much to charge for our products," a senior sales manager from a Hunan-based antimony smelter told Asian Metal.Asian Metal Copyright"

With both antimony ingot and antimony trioxide production lines, the smelter is currently running 150TPM for antimony ingot. The smelter has its own antimony mine with around 1,000T monthly ore output ranging 20-40% for antimony content.

The source believes RMB24,800/T should be an acceptable price level for both buyer and seller. "RMB24,500/T is still somewhat low. RMB24,800/T is much more reasonable for the market," said the source.

Meanwhile, another smelter in Guangxi Province told Asian Metal that it has just completed a deal at a price of RMB25,800/T for 100T antimony ingot with delivery to be made next month. "We just recovered production last week after two weeks stoppage for the Spring Festival, but all the output for this month had already been ordered early February," said an official of the smelter.Asian Metal Copyright "We just recovered production last week after two weeks stoppage for the Spring Festival, but all the output for this month had already been ordered early February," said an official of the smelter.Asian Metal Copyright The source said the batch of cargo is not standard. Local market prices for common antimony ingot are around RMB25,500/T.Asian Metal Copyright "We just recovered production last week after two weeks stoppage for the Spring Festival, but all the output for this month had already been ordered early February," said an official of the smelter.Asian Metal Copyright

With 2,000TPY production capacity for both antimony ingot and antimony trioxide, the smelter is now running only 100TPM for antimony ingot.

A major trader in South China claims that domestic prices have already been too high, pushed by high expectations from many suppliers. But according to his knowledge, few foreign buyers showed any interest in quotations as high as USD3,100-3,200/T CIF.Asian Metal CopyrightBEIJING Asian Metal 11-Mar-2005 Although some Chinese sellers have greatly raised the price of antimony ingot by offering as high as RMB26,000T for domestic sales and USD3,200T CIF for export, it seems that even industry participants are puzzled by the current market.Asian Metal Copyright "We received quite a few inquiries from our buyers overseas.Asian Metal CopyrightMeanwhile, another smelter in Guangxi Province told Asian Metal that it has just completed a deal at a price of RMB25,800T for 100T antimony ingot with delivery to be made next month.Asian Metal Copyright They think current market prices are abnormally high and they are waiting for a calm market," said the trader. "We have to quote as high as USD3,200/T because we have to purchase antimony ingot at RMB25,800/T, taking licence fees and profit into consideration.Asian Metal Copyright They think current market prices are abnormally high and they are waiting for a calm market," said the trader.Asian Metal Copyright"

Sources believe an abrupt price turnback may happen in the following weeks if foreign buyers keep standing out of the market. Meanwhile, if market trends continue, buyers will have to come back to the market and be forced to accept higher prices.