European antimony market slows due to holidays

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 5 May 08 – In the passed week, European antimony market slowed down because of the holidays. Many market participants took the week off, and are waiting for higher prices after they come back to office.
A European trader holds the market price for 99.65%min standard grade two antimony ingot price is at around USD6,250-6,300/t in warehouse Rotterdam. He believes this price has already broken the historical high of antimony price at USD6,100/t in 1994.
According to him, the demand was weak as there were several holidays in Europe last week. "I made two offers before the customers left on holiday earlier in the week, but they would not be able to answer before they come back from holidays," said the source.
The trader opines that the Chinese suppliers are pushing the price up, and they may have more excuses than before because China will hold Olympic Games this year.
Another trader confirmed the price of 99.65%min grade two antimony ingot in the range of USD6,200-6,300/t in warehouse Rotterdam, and there is little material in Europe. He sees the market was quiet last week because of the holidays in most parts of the world, and expects customers to come to market from this week.
“Many of the customers used their stock in the passed two months after Chinese suppliers raised prices due to the snowstorm in China, but the price did not drop to the level they wished for, which would be in the range of USD5,400-5,500/t, and now they need to come to market because they are out of inventories,” said the source and takes that the antimony price will reach USD6,500/t in the near future. He added, “There are some offers at this level already.”