Guangxi-based antimony plants suspend production

Some Guangxi-based antimony plants have suspended production upon the local government's decree after the incident of some residents having been poisoned by arsenic infected water.
A Hechi-based antimony ingot smelter with a monthly production capacity of around 800 tons stated that they have suspended production since the mid of last week as the government compelled all the smelting plants to suspend production in order to carry out environment rectification. The source explained that some villagers in adjacent places to the antimony mines have tasted arsenic affected water and get poisoned, but fortunately no one was deadly hurt. "After the incident, the local government issued an order of production suspension to all the smelting plants in Guangxi province, especially in Hechi city and Nandan County," said the source and he does not know when the government will allow them to resume production.
The source expressed that the mainstream prices of antimony ingot 99.65%min is RMB40,700-41,200/t (USD5,959-6,032/t) ex works increased slightly from RMB40,500-41,000/t (USD5,930-6,003/t) ex works last week, but few deals can be seen at the moment. The smelter hold some stocks on hand, but they only concluded very few quantities of antimony ingots so far since the National Day holiday as few buyers send inquiries to them. The source believes that the market may not increase by large margins because European buyers are not as active as they did in the past several months.
Another Hechi-based antimony ingot smelter with a monthly production capacity of around 600-800 tons confirmed that that they have suspended production since last week. The source said, "All the antimony smelting plants have suspended production in Hechi city due to the arsenic infected water incident." He believes that the production suspension may last for over a month because "the milk incident" has raised the government's attention on food security and citizen's health. Government's officials dare not neglect any thing alike. They would carry out a clear investigation and strict rectification over the matter.
Concerning for the influences on the output of the antimony metal in China, the source believes the output will be obviously reduced as both Lengshuijiang-based smelting plants and some Guangxi-based plants have suspended production, but it seems that the current situation may not affect the price significantly because of the low demand from European market. "If the economy turns better in the future when demand revives, the price may increase upon tight supply of the antimony ingot."
The source puts the mainstream price of antimony ingot 99.65%min at RMB40,500-41,000/t (USD5,930-6,003/t) ex works, up from RMB40,000-40,500/t (USD5,857-5,930/t) ex last week. However, there are not many deals concluded at the monument.

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Participants have no confident in manganese metal market

As manganese metal prices continue to plummet, participants are not long confident in the market and the fear of financial disaster makes many to believe that the market will not rebound soon.
As at the close of the market Friday, offers in the warehouse Rotterdam was USD3, 250-3,300/t but by yesterday it as further dropped to USD3, 200/t, sources informed.
A trader source in Germany informed that manganese flake price has dropped down, as at the middle of last week the price was USD3, 400/t and by end of the week, he received offers at around USD3, 150/t CIF Rotterdam but did not buy any additional stock because he believes price might still dip further. "I think the market will not rebound because of the financial disaster in USA and EU as customers do not want to buy large stock," he speculates.
Another trader source in Germany thinks the present low demand for manganese metal has just began due to financial crisis; many consumers have lost confidence in the market. He thinks price will not rebound soon but rather further dip by another USD100-200/t.
The source said, because major consumers are booked, demand is very weak, and he said the price of manganese flake in warehouse is around USD3, 200/t and even then nobody wants to buy. Last week it was USD3, 250-3,300/t but we know market is not possible at the level.

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Magnesium ingot market worsening

Magnesium ingot market continues to worsen with prices showing signs to decrease further from the current level of RMB22,200-22,600/t (USD3,250-3,309/t) ex works. Many producers have lost confidence in the future market and begun to undersell materials, sources reported to Asian Metal today.
A Henan-based trader who plans to buy a batch of magnesium ingot decides to wait for one or two days with strong believe that the price will go lower. According to the source, many magnesium producers do not quote now because they are well aware that whatever they quote, buyers will ask for a lower price.
"The prevailing firm offers we got late last week were in a range of RMB22,200-22,500/t (USD3,250-3,294/t) ex works RMB500-600/t (USD73-88/t) lower than those early this month, but we aim to buy at a price below RMB22,000/t (USD3,222/t) ex works," said the source, adding that they bought less than 100t of magnesium ingot at RMB20,300/t (USD2,972/t) VAT excluded last week.
The source is not worried about the sudden price rebound, arguing that although more magnesium smelters reduced or halted production due to the sluggish market, extremely poor demand all over the world will prevent the price from going up.
An official from a Shaanxi-based magnesium ingot smelter holds the same opinion. Running at its full capacity of 5,000tpy, the smelter has a stock of over 100t. "The quantity of our stock is really small compared with that of some other large smelters in Shaanxi who hold 1,000-2,000t in stock," said the source, taking the considerable amount of stock to be a potential hazard to the future market.
The source puts the workable price of magnesium ingot at RMB22,200-22,400/t (USD3,250-3,280/t) ex works in the region and confirmed that some smelters have already undersold the material at RMB22,000/t (USD3,221/t) ex works. Meanwhile, the source revealed that they sold a small quantity of magnesium ingot at RMB20,000/t (USD2,928/t) VAT excluded last week while more smelters have lowered their offers to RMB19,700-19,800/t (USD2,884-2,899/t) VAT excluded this week. "We have not seen the end of the price decrease, so what we have to do is to sell as soon as possible and as much as possible," said the source.

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Magnesium powder market sinking

Magnesium powder, used as desulfurizer for the steel-making industry, seems to be in face of a gloomy future given that steel mill are reducing output all over the world under the global economic and financial crisis. Participants reported that the magnesium powder price has also been diving in Chinese spot market in line with the slipping price of magnesium ingot.

A magnesium powder producer based in Wenxi, Shanxi province, with the capacity of 200tpm, halted production last weekend for environmental and safety checkup.4 According to the source, most the magnesium powder processors in the region were asked to stop production to improve anti-pollution facilities and safety treatment. "We accepted an order of about 50t of magnesium powder a week ago but only completed half of the order. We're afraid that we have to put off the fulfillment of the contract," said the source.

The source reported that the price of magnesium powder is in a wide range of RMB24,500-26,000/t (USD3,587-3,807/t) ex works depending on different payment term. "Our previous deal was concluded at RMB25,000/t (USD3,660/t) ex works with 3 months D/A payment while the price may be much lower if the buyer can make payment by cash," said the source.

The source confirmed that magnesium powder demand saw a significant decrease due to the sluggish steel market. As many steel mills have reduced output, the demand for magnesium power, one of the additive agents, declines accordingly. "Luckily, some of our long-term customers are from the pharmaceutical industry, so our sales pressure is not as heavy as others," said the source.

Meanwhile, the source disclosed that some magnesium ingot producers are anxious to sell for fear that the price may drop further. The source received many unsolicited offers and just purchased a small batch of magnesium ingot at around RMB22,000/t (USD3,221/t) ex works.

A dealer from Henan revealed that the magnesium powder market is in decline in accord with the magnesium ingot. The worsening situation of steel market is also casting shadows on the magnesium powder market.

"We could distributed more than 300tpm of magnesium powder to steel mills, but our sales volume has decreased sharply to 50-60tpm since September," said the source, revealing that many steel mills reduced the purchase quantity of magnesium powder.

The source confirmed that the price of magnesium powder ranges widely. Some large steel mills who usually purchase by D/A payment have to pay RMB25,500-26,000/t (USD3,734-3,807/t) ex works while the price to those who can make fresh payment is only at RMB24,000-24,600/t (USD3,514-3,602/t) ex works.

The source is also not optimistic about the future market for both magnesium powder and ingot, believing the prices of the materials are likely to continue slipping in the following several weeks.

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Antimony ingot supply tight in Lengshuijiang,Hunan

Almost all the Lengshuijiang-based antimony smelting plants and mines have suspended production and sources reported that people could hardly get antimony ingots from the region, so that suppliers increased offers accordingly though few deals are reported at present.
A Lengshuijiang-based smelter with a monthly production capacity of around 500 tons of antimony ingots revealed that he has suspended production for almost twenty days and they do not have antimony ingots to offer. "We have suspended production during the Olympic Games for around 40 days and shortly after we resumed the production, the government issued another order for the second round of suspension, so almost all the smelters produce very few amount of the metal and they have sold out their stocks so far," explained the source.
The output of antimony metal in the Lengshuijiang region takes up approximately above 40% of the total output of China. People can figure it out if the production suspension last for a while, the total supply will be greatly reduced in China, especially those sold through illegal channels to Europe.
Therefore, in view of the potential tight supply of the antimony materials, those who hold a certain amount of stocks on hand increased the quotations for antimony ingot 99.65%min to RMB38,500/t (USD5,637/t) VAT excluded ex works right after the Nation Day holiday this week, up from RMB37,500/t (USD5,490/t) VAT excluded ex works late September. The source believes that the price may only become stable in the coming days if European buyers remain inactive. However, He heard that some Chinese exporters have just increased their offers for antimony ingot 99.65%min to USD6,400/t CIF Rotterdam in the mid of this week, up from USD6,200-6,300/t CIF Rotterdam early this week; if European buyers come to make purchases at this moment, the price may continue to increase. In general, he is optimistic about the future market as the supply will become tight once more buyers come back to the market.
The source does not worry about the resumption of the production. "I know we will resume production and it is just a matter of time because antimony industry is the supporting industry in Lengshuijiang region, so that the local government will not drop the opportunity to collect more tax revenue."
Another Lengshuijiang-based smelter who has suspended production for the same period of time confirmed that many other smelters have suspended production and many of them do not have stocks on hand. The source puts the mainstream price in Lengshuijiang region is RMB38,300-38,400/t (USD5,608-5,622/t) VAT excluded ex works, up by around RMB700-800/t (USD102-117/t) from before the National Day holiday. The source has a monthly production capacity of around 400-500 tons.
The source believes that the market may become stable in the coming days as the demand from European buyers remain low, which is one of the key elements to affect the price to go up and down. For the rest of the months, the source also holds an optimistic attitude towards it because of the potential tight supply of the antimony materials. He is now looking for antimony concentrate and will purchase once he finds available antimony concentrate.

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