Chinese minor metals weekly roundup – Antimony slips slightly further, magnesium crawls up again, tungsten dramatically up

BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 29-Apr-11.  Antimony metal prices have softened slightly more this week, but smelters began to cease underselling the material as stocks have shrunk over the past two weeks. Prices are likely to stabilise in the coming days.   The magnesium ingot market has seen prices move higher this week, although demand is muted. But it will be hard to see much further improvement, considering slow market transaction activity.   The tungsten market this week has seen a dramatic rise due to a lack of tungsten concentrate and APT. The short availability is predicted to lead to even hotter market in the coming month.   ANTIMONY The prices for 99.65% grade antimony metal have slid to {RMB103,000-105,000/tonne*$15,895-16,203/tonne before 5% export tax} this week, down from {RMB104,000-106,000/tonne*$16,000-16,307/tonne before 5% export tax} seen last week.   “It will hard for prices to decline much further on the back of firm production costs as antimony ore prices have remained firm,” said an official at a Hunan-based smelter.   “Meanwhile, smelters are able to produce for only 20 days a month since government has restricted the use of electric power. High production costs will not allow a large ...

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