Antimony trioxide smelters plan to continue reducing output

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 3 Dec 08 – Affected by the economic crisis, antimony smelters are planning to continue reducing their output in the coming months.7

A Hunan-based antimony trioxide smelter with a monthly production capacity of around 2,000 tons revealed that they have reduced the monthly output by around 30-40% since mid-November. "We will consider continuing to reduce our output if the demand is continuously decreasing."

The smelter has been offering RMB25,500-26,000/t ex works for antimony trioxide 99.5%min since early last week. They heard that some other large smelters quote RMB24,000/t (USD3,514/t) ex works for the same materials. However, only small-sized smelters quote as low as slightly above RMB20,000/t (USD2,928/t) ex works. The source believes that the prices of antimony trioxide wereGrelatively stable in the recent two weeks as more people sent inquiries. The source said that they are trying to hold the prices at above RMB25,000/t (USD3,660/t) ex works as the price is very close to their production cost.P

As for the situation in Lengshuijiang region, the source estimated that the output of antimony ingot in this region may reduced by at least 30% this year due to many reasons, such as the freezing6weather atCthe beginning of the year, the Olympic Games and the crackdown of the illegal mines that is carrying out in the region at present. According to the source, the Lengshuijiang region has an annual production capacity of around 20,000 tons with around 1,700 tons each month. The source believes that the smelters hold few stocks on hand at present and the fundamentals of the antimony market are not as bad as people think. He explains that the supply of antimony ore and antimony ingot is still tight.

A South China-based antimony trioxide smelter with the production capacity of around 15,000 tons per annum confirmed that they also reduced their output in November by around 30%. The source stated that they will adjust the output in the coming months according to the sales volume.

The smelter produced around 12,000 tons of antimony trioxide in 2007 and the output in 2008 may be only reduced slightly by less than 10%.

The source also revealed that only large smelters hold prices of antimony trioxide 99.5%min at around RMB24,000-26,000/t (USD3,514-3,807/t) ex works, while many small smelters quote around RMB21,000-23,000/t (USD3,075-3,367/t) ex works. They still see very few deals this weekthe same as what happened in the past several weeks, but the inquiries became more in the recent two weeks.