Little improvement seen in the antimony market

Foreign buyers remain reluctant to purchase antimony metal from China this week, as the rumour that an export tax for antimony will be imposed soon was not confirmed by government last Friday, market participants said.

Domestic prices for antimony metal have risen by about Rmb100-200/tonne to Rmb39,200-40,200/tonne ($5,004-5,132/tonne) since the beginning of this week, compared to Rmb39,000-40,000/tonne ($4,979-5,106/tonne) last week.

“Pushed by the relatively tight antimony ore supply, most smelters raised their offers for antimony metal,” confirmed a Hunan based smelter, revealing the company sold some low bismuth antimony at Rmb40,200/tonne this week.

A second Hunan based smelter reported that the prices of standard grade II antimony as well as the low bismuth material, have inched up to Rmb39,200-39,800/tonne ($5,004-5,081/tonne) at the moment, from the previous level of Rmb39,000-39,500/tonne ($4,978-5,043/tonne).

However, the export market did not bounce as most industry insiders predicted. “Foreign buyers haven’t paid much attention to purchasing in the past few days and are just buying material hand-to-mouth,” said a Guangdong based trader, reporting that the company raised its offer for standard grade II material to $5,250/tonne FOB from the previous level of $5,230/tonne FOB, but foreign buyers refused to accept it.

“The highest level for low bismuth antimony didn’t go above $5,330/tonne FOB and I’m afraid the market will not recover until next month,” said a Jiangsu based trader.

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