Chinese APT market sees continuous decrease of prices
2023-03-17 11:49:16 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 17 Mar 23 - Some Chinese APT suppliers have to make small concessions in prices to boost sales owing to insufficient orders and strong wait-and-see sentiments in the market caused by continuous decrease of prices in the market. Mainstream prices of Chinese APT 88.5%min stand at RMB176,000-177,000/t (USD 25,532-25,677/t) delivered D/P currently, down by about RMB1,000/t (USD145/t) from early this week. Given soft demand in the terminal market, customers are reluctant to purchase APT while producers gradually raise supply, so insiders predict that mainstream prices of Chinese APT 88.5%min would decrease further in the coming week.
A trader in South China said, "We now quote RMB177,000/t (USD25,677/t) delivered D/P for APT 88.5%min and could accept the price of RMB176,000/t (USD25,532/t) for firm orders but with no deals concluded so far this week. We once sold 64t of the material at RMB177,000/t (USD25,677/t) late last week." According to the trader, most of their deals were concluded at around RMB179,000/t (USD25,968/t) in early March and mainstream prices stood at RMB177,000/t (USD25,677/t) last week, which indicated that prices in the market declined slowly starting from early March. The trader disclosed that downstream consumers are cautious about refilling stocks at present with a pessimistic attitude about the market outlook, adding that a regular customer even has no intention to refill stocks this week after sending enquiries. A tungsten concentrate WO3 supplier quotes RMB115,000/t (USD16,683/t) for the raw material to the trader this week, but the trader refuses to purchase against the backdrop of the downward price trend for the raw material. In view of soft demand in the market and sluggish economy, the trader predicts that mainstream prices of Chinese APT 88.5%min would keep declining in the coming week.
With a regular monthly trade volume of 300t of APT 88.5%min, the trader expects to sell about 200t of the material this month, lower than the figure of about 300t last month. They totally sold around 3,000t of the material in 2022 and hold about 100t of stocks at the moment, unchanged MOM.
Another trader in South China said, "We now temporarily stop making quotations for APT 88.5%min and could accept the price of RMB177,000/t (USD25,677/t) EXW D/P for firm orders, but most consumers still have no intention to accept this price level as they could purchase the material at RMB176,000/t (USD25,532/t) from other suppliers. We refuse to accept the price of RMB176,000/t (USD25,532/t) at present and refused to accept any prices lower than RMB178,000/t (USD25,846/t) last week, when we didn't conclude any deals." They last sold about 30t of the material at RMB179,000/t (USD25,968/t) in early March, but mainly signed long-term orders since then. Most producers will resume normal production in late March while the domestic market sees inactive purchases at the moment caused by the fact that most consumers are more inclined to refill stocks based on orders, so the trader predicts that mainstream prices of Chinese APT 88.5%min would go down further in the coming week.
With a regular monthly trade volume of 300t of APT 88.5%min, the trader expects to sell about 200t of the material this month, stable MOM. They totally sold around 3,200t of the material in 2022 and hold about 200t of stocks at the moment, unchanged MOM.
A trader in South China said, "We now quote RMB177,000/t (USD25,677/t) delivered D/P for APT 88.5%min and could accept the price of RMB176,000/t (USD25,532/t) for firm orders but with no deals concluded so far this week. We once sold 64t of the material at RMB177,000/t (USD25,677/t) late last week." According to the trader, most of their deals were concluded at around RMB179,000/t (USD25,968/t) in early March and mainstream prices stood at RMB177,000/t (USD25,677/t) last week, which indicated that prices in the market declined slowly starting from early March. The trader disclosed that downstream consumers are cautious about refilling stocks at present with a pessimistic attitude about the market outlook, adding that a regular customer even has no intention to refill stocks this week after sending enquiries. A tungsten concentrate WO3 supplier quotes RMB115,000/t (USD16,683/t) for the raw material to the trader this week, but the trader refuses to purchase against the backdrop of the downward price trend for the raw material. In view of soft demand in the market and sluggish economy, the trader predicts that mainstream prices of Chinese APT 88.5%min would keep declining in the coming week.
With a regular monthly trade volume of 300t of APT 88.5%min, the trader expects to sell about 200t of the material this month, lower than the figure of about 300t last month. They totally sold around 3,000t of the material in 2022 and hold about 100t of stocks at the moment, unchanged MOM.
Another trader in South China said, "We now temporarily stop making quotations for APT 88.5%min and could accept the price of RMB177,000/t (USD25,677/t) EXW D/P for firm orders, but most consumers still have no intention to accept this price level as they could purchase the material at RMB176,000/t (USD25,532/t) from other suppliers. We refuse to accept the price of RMB176,000/t (USD25,532/t) at present and refused to accept any prices lower than RMB178,000/t (USD25,846/t) last week, when we didn't conclude any deals." They last sold about 30t of the material at RMB179,000/t (USD25,968/t) in early March, but mainly signed long-term orders since then. Most producers will resume normal production in late March while the domestic market sees inactive purchases at the moment caused by the fact that most consumers are more inclined to refill stocks based on orders, so the trader predicts that mainstream prices of Chinese APT 88.5%min would go down further in the coming week.
With a regular monthly trade volume of 300t of APT 88.5%min, the trader expects to sell about 200t of the material this month, stable MOM. They totally sold around 3,200t of the material in 2022 and hold about 200t of stocks at the moment, unchanged MOM.
