Antimony trioxide smelters increase offers

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 5 Aug 08 – As many antimony ingot smelters increased their offers due to the output of them reduced caused by the tight supply of antimony concentrate, many trioxide smelters begin to increase their offers this week.
A South China-based antimony trioxide smelter with a monthly production capacity of around 400-500 tons increased their offers for antimony trioxide 99.5%min from RMB36,000/t (USD5,255/t) ex works last week to RMB36,500/t (USD5,328/t) ex works this week. “It is very difficult for us to get antimony concentrate these days and the output of our plant has reduced to some extent,” said the source, “We also heard that many other trioxide smelters have increased their offers.”
The source revealed that they received more inquiries in the latter half of last week with most of them coming from domestic buyers and few from exporters. She believes that consumers are afraid that they could not get the material during the Olympic Games because the central government also carries out the control on the road transportation and the supply of antimony ingot becomes tighter than the last several weeks. “Some of those who still hold the metal on hand do not want to release them.”
A South China-based exporter increased their export offers for antimony trioxide 99.5%min to USD5,500-5,550/t CIF China this week from USD5,450/t CIF China last week. However, their clients refused to accept it. According to the source, the trioxide market still sees few deals concluded at present, but inquiries from
foreign buyers has become more since last week.
The source revealed that their supplier increased offers for antimony trioxide 99.5%min from RMB35,000/t (USD5,109/t) ex works two weeks ago to RMB36,000/t (USD5,255/t) ex works last week. The source believes that their supplier may increase offers further this week because the supply of antimony ingot becomes tighter.
The source stated that they have signed several contracts for the end of September shipments. She is still not sure about whether the market may continue to go up or not in the coming weeks before the end of August when summer holiday finishes because buyers could not accept their offers, while she believes that the market may pick up after the summer holiday when buyers come back to make purchases.