Traders hold back offering for antimony ingot

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 20 Feb 08 - Having unable to obtain antimony ingot from smelters, most of which were forced to shut down due to the heavy snowstorm in many parts of South China, most Chinese traders hold back offering for antimony ingot, though they received more inquiries from international market, sources reported to Asian Metal today.
A Guangxi-based trader has not concluded any deals of both antimony ingot and antimony trioxide during the past month. According to the source, during the past several months, the antimony ingot prices in European spot market were lower than those quoted by Chinese state-owned suppliers as large quantities of the material were smuggled out of China via Vietnam, and some Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Burma and Indonesia also enlarged antimony ore production. This led to a disparity between traders' purchasing and selling prices, which has washed many traders out of the market.
"Taking the purchasing price of RMB41,500/t (USD5,796/t) ex works for example, we should quote at least USD6,200/t FOB for antimony ingot to guarantee a profit of USD100/t. However, no one will accept such a high price," said the source.
A Guangdong-based trader confirmed the same situation. According to the source, most Chinese traders are not offering for antimony ingot or put their quotations at a extremely high level, which scares many buyers away. "Some of our customers in Europe complained to us that they could not receive any offers from China, but they're not ready to accept the price of USD6,200/t in warehouse Rotterdam from local dealers," said the source.
As most smelters in China have not resumed normal production, leaving the market supply to keep tight, the source holds that the antimony price will remain high in the rest of February. However, once the production in China restarts, the price will come down soon. Meanwhile, the source revealed that a few deals have been reportedly concluded at RMB41,300-41,600/t (USD5,768-5,810/t) ex works in Chinese domestic market lately.