Antimony products producers raise offers

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 4 Jul 07 – Due to the series closures of antimony smelters and mining enterprises, antimony products producers begin to raise offers on anticipation of the short supply. Some major producers hold off from offering, waiting for clearer market trend, while small smelters in Lengshuijiang, Hunan start quoting RMB36,500/t (USD4,796/t) VAT excluded, up from RMB34,300-34,500/t (USD4,507-4,534/t) VAT excluded late last week, market sources reported to Asian Metal today.
Despite higher offers, a Hunan-based trader reported that the market is generally quiet at the moment as most consumers are still watching and waiting for further market trend. “Having learnt that most antimony ingot smelters in Hunan were forced to close down, we planned to purchase some antimony ingot lest that the market should go up in the near future. However, small smelters offered us RMB36,000-36,500/t (USD4,731-4,796/t) VAT excluded yesterday against RMB35,000/t (USD4,599/t) VAT excluded seen late last week,” said the source. “We have not decided whether to buy or not.”
Meanwhile, the source revealed that most of the major antimony ingot producers, who also stopped production lately, do not quote at the moment. However, they are likely to offer higher prices soon.
An antimony trioxide consumer from Zhejiang is considering replenishing stocks for fear that the price of antimony trioxide might go up. “Our supplier in Hunan is still running, but they informed us that they may soon increase offers in view of the possible supply shortage of raw material,” said the source.
What consumers worry about is that when smelters will resume production. Many are hesitant to stock large quantities of materials on hand as they don’t know when the market will return to normal.
The source purchased around 10t of antimony trioxide from a Hunan producers ten days ago at RMB35,000/t (USD4,599/t) ex works and is planning to purchase another batch soon.