Chinese antimony trioxide consumers cautious about purchasing
2023-03-03 11:55:22 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 3 Mar 23 - As end-user demand stays inactive, most Chinese antimony trioxide consumers just keep purchasing from hand to mouth, leading to a relatively slack market. Mainstream prices for Chinese antimony trioxide 99.8%min now stand at RMB75,500-76,500/t (USD10,940-11,085/t) delivered D/A 30 days, on par with early this week. Given the overall tight supply of raw material and suppliers' intention to firm their offers, insiders believe that prices for Chinese antimony trioxide 99.8%min would remain stable in the coming week.
A consumer in South China said, "We initially planned to buy antimony trioxide 99.8%min this week but decided to postpone our purchase until mid-March due to overall slack demand and soft price. Normally, we would purchase one month in advance". The consumer added that the most competitive offer they get for antimony trioxide 99.8%min now stands at RMB76,000/t (USD11,012/t) delivered D/A 30 days, and the price remains unchanged this week. They last purchased 10t to replenish some stocks at RMB74,500/t (USD10,795/t) in early February. The consumer added that suppliers generally prefer to keep offers firm and refuse to sell at lower prices, since the price of raw material also stays unmoved, despite the weak demand from downstream market. Therefore, they reckon that prices for Chinese antimony trioxide 99.8%min would remain stable in the following week.
With an annual consumption capacity of 500t of antimony trioxide 99.8%min, they expect to use about 20t in March, in line with last month. They consumed about 300t in total last year. They now hold inventory of around 10t, the same as a month ago.
Another consumer in South China said, "We are not planning to purchase for the moment. The price of antimony trioxide 99.8%min stays firm at RMB76,000/t (USD11,012/t) delivered D/A 60 days and we can hardly purchase the material at any lower prices, so we prefer to wait and see, with no purchase concluded over the past month, while we normally would purchase once a month". The consumer explains that downstream demand remains weak now and the current price of antimony trioxide 99.8% is higher than their target purchase price. They last bought 40t at RMB68,000/t (USD9,853/t) in mid-January and now mainly consume stocks. Given the tight supply and limited stocks, they believe that prices for Chinese antimony trioxide 99.8%min would stay unmoved in the coming week.
With an annual consumption capacity of 2,000t of antimony trioxide 99.8%min, they expect to use about 90t in March, on par with last month. They consumed about 1,300t in total last year. They now hold inventory of around 80t, the same as one month earlier.
A consumer in South China said, "We initially planned to buy antimony trioxide 99.8%min this week but decided to postpone our purchase until mid-March due to overall slack demand and soft price. Normally, we would purchase one month in advance". The consumer added that the most competitive offer they get for antimony trioxide 99.8%min now stands at RMB76,000/t (USD11,012/t) delivered D/A 30 days, and the price remains unchanged this week. They last purchased 10t to replenish some stocks at RMB74,500/t (USD10,795/t) in early February. The consumer added that suppliers generally prefer to keep offers firm and refuse to sell at lower prices, since the price of raw material also stays unmoved, despite the weak demand from downstream market. Therefore, they reckon that prices for Chinese antimony trioxide 99.8%min would remain stable in the following week.
With an annual consumption capacity of 500t of antimony trioxide 99.8%min, they expect to use about 20t in March, in line with last month. They consumed about 300t in total last year. They now hold inventory of around 10t, the same as a month ago.
Another consumer in South China said, "We are not planning to purchase for the moment. The price of antimony trioxide 99.8%min stays firm at RMB76,000/t (USD11,012/t) delivered D/A 60 days and we can hardly purchase the material at any lower prices, so we prefer to wait and see, with no purchase concluded over the past month, while we normally would purchase once a month". The consumer explains that downstream demand remains weak now and the current price of antimony trioxide 99.8% is higher than their target purchase price. They last bought 40t at RMB68,000/t (USD9,853/t) in mid-January and now mainly consume stocks. Given the tight supply and limited stocks, they believe that prices for Chinese antimony trioxide 99.8%min would stay unmoved in the coming week.
With an annual consumption capacity of 2,000t of antimony trioxide 99.8%min, they expect to use about 90t in March, on par with last month. They consumed about 1,300t in total last year. They now hold inventory of around 80t, the same as one month earlier.
