European antimony market softens slightly

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 25 Jul 07 – Seeing the hope of reopening, Chinese suppliers started to offer antimony to European market players, and price is lowering.
A European consumer told Asian Metal that from the beginning of this week, he started to receive more offers and lower prices. According to him, the price dropped from close to USD5,600/t CIF Rotterdam last week for lower bismuth content to current USD5,350/t CIF Rotterdam. And the regular grade two 99.65%min antimony ingot is offered at USD5,300/t CIF Rotterdam.
The source thinks the market is weak in Europe, and major buyers are not in the market. Therefore, if the situation improves in China, the price will likely to drop further.
A UK trader revealed to Asian Metal that price this week is stabilizing. Comparing with the price of USD5,500-5,600/t in warehouse Rotterdam last week, the offers received this week are at around USD5,500/t in warehouse Rotterdam.
“Price suddenly stopped moving upwards.” The source claimed market is still very weak that he had not concluded any deal of antimony in the last two weeks. “We still need to wait until the end of August for the clear market.”
Another UK trader said he sold small tonnage of grade two antimony ingot with low bismuth at USD5,550/t in warehouse Rotterdam. He also expects the market to recover at end of August.