NEW YORK -- Domestic merchants said a noticeable reduction in Chinese antimony metal shipments here during the past month have caused antimony metal prices to jump to range of 85 to 90 cents a pound from 73 cents a pound in December.
The merchant price is minimum 18-ton container, c.i.f. U.S. ports.
Shipments of antimony metal from China, the world's largest producer of antimony, have slowed or been delayed, leaving very little material available for purchase in U.S. markets.
"The raw materials have quite suddenly dried up during the past three to four weeks," one metal buyer said. "Typically, delivery of metal from China takes about eight weeks, but that schedule doesn't exist now; you'll probably wait about 12 weeks for delivery of large tonnages, like 100-ton lots."
A spokesman at one U.S. company which buys metal to produce antimony trioxide said that the tightness in Chinese material could be a reflection of depleted inventories in a time of strengthening demand.
"Chinese exporters go on an extended vacation during the Chinese New Year (in February) and during that time they shut down their facilities and draw from inventories," he said. "In the past there were inventories, but lately the Chinese have had no material in their warehouses. They are shipping from smelter to port."
Another source said the rise may reflect a shift in buying patterns by European antimony buyers. He said that during the first half of 1993, European antimony buyers purchased material from Russia. However, they switched to Chinese material when the Russian producers had production problems. The source said the switch to Chinese material by European buyers drew down Chinese supplies.
Another metal buyer said that the Chinese have slowed shipments of material so that prices for their goods would rise.
"The price rise is not unexpected, but I am surprised at how quickly the prices have moved up," one market source said.
Another source said Chinese metal imports here have fallen well under the normal level of about 500 tons a month.
Meanwhile, merchants and U.S. antimony trioxide producers also have hiked their quotes for antimony trioxide.
U.S. producers said they are selling high tint antimony trioxide in a price range of $1.20 to $1.30 a pound, up from a range of $1.00 to $1.10 a pound. The producer price is minimum 20,000 pounds, delivered.
A spokesman for one domestic antimony trioxide producer said his company raised its trioxide price to reflect rising raw material costs. "I have not seen a price movement (in metal) of this nature in the past four or five year," he said.
"I think the translation of the hike is delays. No one wants to make shipments with the price rise. If they sit on the material a bit longer, then they get a better price." The spokesman said his company buys one-third of its metal directly from China.
Merchants said they currently are selling imported trioxide in a price range of 88 to 90 cents a pound compared with a range of 84 to 90 cents a pound in December. They attributed the price rise to a reduction in tonnages of trioxide hitting U.S. docks.
U.S. antimony trioxide prices are higher than imported trioxide because of the costs domestic producers incur to turn metal into a trioxide of higher quality than imported brands.
Market sources added that U.S. demand for antimony trioxide is steady to increasing. Both domestic makers and merchants of antimony trioxide said demand from makers of flame-retardant plastics, the largest end-use market for trioxide, has increased, although neither side would say by how much.
Makers of the flame-retardant plastics consumed 4,583 metric tons of the 5,732 tons of antimony consumed by the flame-retardant industry as a whole during the first 11 months of last year, according to a U.S. Bureau of Mines report.
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DONGGUAN JIEFU FLAME-RETARDED MATERIALS CO.,LTD
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