Antimony ingot offers hiking

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 8 Jan 09 – Many antimony ingot producers hold back offering or insist on relatively high prices in the name of supply tightness. Consumer and trader sources reported that it is hard to obtain antimony ingot for the time being.
A Hunan-based antimony trioxide producer reported that it is hard to obtain antimony ingot at the moment. Suppliers either claimed that they have no material to supply or send a very high offer that may keep us away from buying.
"An antimony ingot producer in the local area agreed to sell us 20t of antimony ingot at RMB23,500/t (USD3,436/t) VAT excluded at the beginning of this week but broke his word later," said the source, adding that the producer has raised the offer to RMB25,000/t (USD3,655/t) VAT excluded.
Unable to get antimony ingot at a favorable price, the source plans not to accept any new orders of antimony trioxide. The source reported that antimony trioxide is in low demand, and it is hard for antimony trioxide price to climb up. However, considering that there is not much antimony ingot available in the spot market, and many smelters will halt production during the Lunar New Year holiday, the source thinks that the antimony ingot price may keep firm in the following two weeks.
A Guangdong-based trader who mainly sells antimony ingot to local end users confirmed that the price of the material is shooting up. According to the source, some major producers in Hunan do not offer now while small sized smelters quote as high as RMB26,000-27,000/t (USD3,801-3,947/t) ex works for the material.
"I heard that some dealers are collecting antimony ingot in the spot market. That might be one of the reasons that producers raise prices," said the source. Additionally, the source takes tight supply to be another reason for the price increase. According to the source, many antimony ingot smelters halted production last quarter, resulting in a significant decrease in market supply. Furthermore, those who are still in operation may stop production during the Spring Festival holiday, so the supply might be tighter in February.
The source, however, does not think the antimony ingot price will rise too much given that consumers are not very active in purchasing, and some dealers have piled up stocks to serve orders in the following one or two months. "We have around 100t of antimony ingot in stock, and the material was bought at prices ranging RMB22,500-23,000/t (USD3,289-3,363/t) ex works early December," the source added.