Metal Information Center

Antimony supply tightness driving up prices

November 12, 2007 – 8:23 am

A slowdown in material flow has helped support prices, which are now in a range of $3,400 to $3,500 a tonne, market participants said. Prices also have been buoyed by firm demand for metal from U.S. secondary lead producers despite a downturn in the automotive industry.

“The floods and the mine closures in China are helping keep the market tight right now,” one trader said. “The downturn in the (U.S.) automotive sector has yet to hit secondary lead producers, so demand has remained stable so far.”

Antimony mines in China’s central Hunan province, including those of major producer Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Co., remain shut after the local government ordered all mines in Hunan to halt production during the week beginning June 6 after a fatal coal mine accident in the province.

Mines will be allowed to reopen only after the government conducts checks and ascertains that required safety measures are in place at the mines.

Torrential rains, which have persevered for more than two weeks in Hunan, Guizhou and the Guangxi autonomous region in southern China, also continue to hamper operations and logistics, traders said.

With material flow still looking tight, traders are pushing for further increases to cover replacement costs, with prices quoted at more than $1.60 a pound ($3,600 a tonne) in-warehouse, another U.S. trader said. “It’s hard to sell at these higher numbers and there is little business being done at this range.We are starting to see consumers backing away from the market because of the higher prices and they will just live off contracts.”