Antimony market sluggish

Antimony ingot market has kept dull for several weeks without any signs of recovery, market sources told Asian Metal today.

A Hunan-based producer reported that few deals were concluded during the past two weeks, and consumers are inactive in purchasing. "We lowered our offer from RMB39,500/t (USD5,170/t) ex works to RMB39,000/t (USD5,098/t) ex works for grade two antimony ingot last week, but there are still few buyers coming into buying," said the source, revealing that some producers concluded deals at around RMB38,800/t (USD5,079/t) ex works for 99.85% antimony ingot.

Due to the sluggish market, the smelter is running at half of its capacity of 200tpm.

"Antimony ingot prices keep softening on weak demand, but raw material prices hold high. Therefore, we have been enduring great hardships," another Hunan-based producer said.

According to the source, it is hard to sell standard grade two antimony ingot at RMB39,000/t (USD5,098/t) ex works while many producers lower offers to around RMB38,500-38,800/t (USD5,039-5,079/t) ex works to stimulate demand. "I don't think the market will drop further given the high-held price for antimony concentrate," said the source. "Smelters will be forced to halt production if their profits shrink further."

Industry insiders believe that the market will not pick up in the short term. However, in view of shortage of antimony concentrate and the high price of the material, there will be limited room for antimony ingot to drop in the near future.
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
DONGGUAN JIEFU FLAME-RETARDED MATERIALS CO.,LTD
Sam Xu
Tel: 86-755-83474911
Fax: 86-755-83474980
Mobile:13929211059

E-mail: xubiao_1996(at)hotmail.com samjiefu(at)gmail.com
Add: jiefu industrial park shuiping industrail district dalang town dongguan GD,P.R.C
blog:http://antimony-trioxide.blogspot.com
website:http://www.jiefu.com