Antimony trioxide offers rise with few deals concluded

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 20 Jan 09 – Antimony trioxide prices have been on the rise over the past two weeks pushed by the increased price of antimony ingot. Buyers need time to adopt themselves to the great price increase, so the market is not active, thought some suppliers reportedly receive more inquiries.
A Guangdong-based trader offered USD3,700/t FOB China for antimony trioxide 99.5%min without famous brand last week to some customers from East Asia, USD200/t up from USD3,500/t FOB seen early this month, but no deals have been concluded so far.
"Our customers said that they were not ready to accept such a sharp price increase, and they would like to wait for a few weeks before making purchase," said the source.
The source who usually exports two or three containers of antimony trioxide every month does not bother to offer this week as no buyers inquire for antimony trioxide. However, the source thinks that the antimony trioxide price will either continue to rise or keep at the current level till Chinese come back from the weeklong holiday supported by the increased price of antimony ingot.
A major Hunan-based producer plans to raise the offer of antimony trioxide from USD3,700/t FOB China last week. Other than more inquiries received in the past two weeks, another reason that they increase the offer is that their antimony trioxide smelter has been out of production for nearly two weeks. "We don't have much material in stock," said the source, adding that the smelter will resume production after the Spring Festival holiday. As the Chinese New Year is around the corner, the source does not think the market will be active in the rest of this week.
Meanwhile, a trader from Singapore reported to have received an offer at around USD3,900/t CIF Singapore last week from a Chinese supplier for antimony trioxide 99.5%min with famous brand. "The price is almost USD300/t higher than that three weeks ago,"