Chinese suppliers raise quotations for antimony metal

Chinese suppliers began to raise their quotations for antimony metal at the beginning of this week. According to reports from industry insiders, the main reason is that the government is conducting safety checks on all mines in Hunan following a fatal mining accident early this month which has disrupted the supply of antimony ore.

“The ore supply problem will inevitably affect our antimony metal production,” said a Hunan based smelter, reporting that the company raised the quotation for its standard grade II antimony to Rmb39,300/tonne (US$5,019/tonne) two days ago from the previous Rmb39,000/tonne (US$4,980/tonne).

“Quotations for low bismuth material have been enhanced to about Rmb40,000-40,200/tonne ($5,109-5,134/tonne) at the moment from Rmb39,800-40,000/tonne ($5,086-5,112/tonne),” said a second Hunan based smelter.

Meanwhile, traders hiked their offers in the export market on the back of the higher domestic quotations. “Since most smelters raised their offers, we have to add $20-30/tonne to our previous offers,” said a Hunan based trader.

“We are now quoting $5,360/tonne FOB for low bismuth antimony ingot, US$30/tonne higher than last week. But foreign buyers haven’t made any response,” said a Guangdong based trader.

Western source confirm that there are no longer any cheap offers from China whereas last week there had been some which had been quickly taken up by traders and consumers. One source said: “ Any cheap offers from China have just disappeared this week.” He continued saying that if the accident had happened in January or February the scenario would have been quite different with prices possibly jumping up a couple of hundred dollars.

As it is, the effect on the market has been minimal, stopping the decline in prices from China rather than actually raising prices in the west. However buyers looking to increase their stock position in early January may not find as cheap offers that they had hoped to.

Although there is material available on the ground in China, the effects of the safety checks being conducted by the government on future mining and the uncertainty about the future availability of antimony ore will likely result in Chinese suppliers holding or raising their offer levels in spite of little to no buying interest for export. Western buyers have mainly finished any purchasing they might do before the end of the year and are turning their thoughts more to preparations for the coming holiday period.

Another factor hanging over the antimony market is the possible imposition of an export duty on antimony due to be announced on 15 December.


A sale in Europe for more than one container load of grade II antimony was reported at $5,380/tonne whilst others reported that they had not done any business for a few days. Offers from China are available at $5,320/tonne CIF for low bismuth material indicating little differential at present between low bismuth and standard grade II material.