Spot indium price levels in Japan have stayed unchanged from the previous week ended March 9, despite an announcement from China's Ministry of Commerce on a new indium export rule, Japanese sources said.
Some Chinese sellers raised their spot offers to a high of $850/kg CIF Japan for the 99.99% grade material, while some quoted at $680-700/kg CIF Japan, slightly higher compared to the $660-700/kg CIF range heard in the week ended March 9. The materials are for loading in mainland China. Meanwhile, a consumer looking for less than 1 mt of spot 99.99% indium this week indicated buying at less than $600/kg CIF Japan, and told a trader his company would not be interested if offers were higher.
The most recent major spot deal in Japan was in mid-February, involving 2-3 mt of the 99.99% metal at less than $600/kg CIF Japan.
China's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday the country's provincial governments would be required to submit on March 16 a list of eligible indium producers and exporters. Qualified smelters need to have produced an average of 4 mt/year of 99.993% or higher grade of indium metal in the past three years.
Industry sources in Japan and China agreed that this measure would limit the number of indium exporters in China. The current measure applies to 99.993% metals, but is likely to expand to include lower grade metals, they said. Japanese buyers, however, added that they did not see the spot price levels moving higher, due to the high level of indium metal stocks in Hong Kong. According to one Chinese trader, there are 20 mt of indium metals stored in warehouses in Hong Kong, which is enough to cover the annual spot demand in Japan.
Japanese traders also said they were diversifying their supply sources to outside China, so that they would not be as vulnerable to export policy changes in China. They said they hoped to expand their supply sources in South Korea and Russia.
0 comment:
Post a Comment