Some antimony producers raise offers slightly

Although export market for antimony ingot and antimony trioxide remains flat, domestic antimony products market witnesses more activities during the week.
Antimony ingot prices rise moderately prompted by a little more buying. Producers who put their offer at RMB38,500-39,000/t (USD5,637-5,710/t) ex works for antimony ingot 99.65%min in Hunan in the previous week raise offers by around RMB500/t (USD73/t) to RMB39,000-39,500/t (USD5,710-5,783/t) ex works with some claiming deals at RMB38,800-39,200/t (USD5,564-5,739/t) ex works. Although most producers do not think the price will jump up steeply, they are confident in seeing the price reaching RMB40,000/t (USD5,857/t) ex works soon stimulated by still tight supply of raw material coupled with increasing demand.
After the lead poisoning incident happened in Yiyang, Hunan province, relevant bureau has started overall environmental checkups on local smelting enterprises. Some producers for antimony oxide and antimony metal with high content of lead and arcenic were required to shut down, leaving producers more concerned about the raw material supply. Additionally, as China is welcoming its 60th anniversery of founding, Beijing is on the highest state of security alert and thus the government is paying more attention to controlling explosives. Therefore, some antimony mines are running with small output for lack of dynamite. The supply of antimony raw material keeps tight in general.
Antimony trioxide market goes stable in the week after the price increased by a small margin early this month. Some smelters are still fulfilling contracts signed at RMB34,500-35,000/t (USD5,051-5,124/t) ex works for antimony trioxide 99.5%min while for new orders with shipment in late September or October, producers quote RMB35,500-36,000/t (USD5,198-5,271/t) ex works for bulk deals. Some Hunan-based producers also reportedly concluded deals at RMB36,500/t (USD5,344/t) d.d.p. with RMB200-300/t (USD29-44/t) for transport cost.
European buyers reported that antimony ingot offers they got were USD50-100/t higher than USD5,600-5,6,50/t CIF Rotterdam. Some Asian buyers also received offers at USD5,650-5,700/t FOB China for antimony ingot 99.65%min. Buyers reported that demand in international market is expected to warm up a little in the fourth quarter but not many postive signs have been seen so far in September, so the price increase is mainly a result of the move inside China. Meanwhile, offers for antimony trioxide 99.5%min stay stable at USD5,100-5,300/t FOB China, and producers and traders reported limited concluded deals.