American antimony trioxide market keeps firm

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 10 Apr 08 – As supply is tight, American antimony trioxide keeps firm, and dealers reported deals concluded at USD2.65-2.70/lb d.d.p.
A trader source disclosed to Asian Metal that he had sold several batches of antimony trioxide in the last two weeks, and deals were concluded in the range of USD2.65-2.70/lb for Twinkling Star brand 99.5%min antimony trioxide.
He opines that the supply from China is not as much as last year, and the consumers are looking for material that they have used up their inventories in the passed two months. “There was almost no new material arrived U.S. in February and March but the consumers continued their production, so the stockpile of the material is low.” He holds high price of antimony trioxide is likely to remain for another few weeks.
A U.S. trader confirmed the higher prices of antimony trioxide in American market at USD2.65-2.70/lb d.d.p., and he holds that there is very little material in American warehouses. “Some people may still have a little material bought at cheap prices, but they want to hold for a little higher prices.”
The source reviewed the antimony trioxide market from beginning of the year: “the price was very low at the beginning of this year, and many consumers purchased material at that time. Then we had the big jump of price during the Chinese New Year because less material shipped to America. Just about the price
starting to fall at the end of last week, Chinese suppliers increased prices again.”