Antimony market summary Dec 24-28, 2007

Antimony market keeps silent in the last week of 2007. Judging from the current situation, most participants hold that the market is hard to improve before the Spring Festival. However, considering the high-held production cost, the price of both antimony ingot and trioxide is unlikely to drop by a large scale in the near term.
The concluded price of RMB38,000/t (USD5,184/t) ex works for standard grade-two antimony ingot becomes more prevalent under the pressure of low demand. Only some largest smelters could manage to sell at higher prices such as RMB38,300-38,500/t (USD5,225-5,252/t) ex works for superior-quality materials to long-term customers who usually commit small purchase.
More small smelters in Lengshuijiang, Hunan Province halted production forced by the sluggish market. Many of them would hold stocks rather than sell below RMB35,000/t (USD4,775/t) VAT excluded as production cost keeps high. However, in order to collect money before the Spring Festival, some small smelers were forced to translated some stocks into cash at the above price.
The export market of antimony ingot becomes quieter as most foreign buyers have left for holidays. Almost no concluded deal was reported in the week, and a few traders claimed buyers from non-European countries bid as low as USD5,300/t FOB for the material.
Antimony trioxide market has not improved, either, with prices hovering at RM34,500-35,000/t (USD4,707-4,875/t) ex works for domestic sales and USD4,780-4,800/t FOB for exports. However, some producers and traders reported that they found it hard to sell at RMB34,500/t (USD4,730/t) ex works or USD4,750/t FOB due to lack of consumer demand.