15 Aug 08 – A meeting of antimony industry was held yesterday on 14 Aug. 2008, in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in China. It was organized by Yunnan Muli Antimony Industry Co., Ltd. as it is the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the company and as the current antimony industry is going through a crucial period that the supply of antimony ingot becomes very tight due to the shortage of antimony concentrate during the Olympic Games. There are altogether 18 state-owned companies that are licensed antimony exporters and antimony export suppliers being invited with more than 20 participants attending the meeting. The meeting encircled a joyful and relaxed atmosphere and participants have held a warm discussion over the antimony industry and market. They have also exchanged ideas and reached consensuses.
The 18 companies includes China Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd, Hunan ZhongNan Antimony & Tungsten Trading Co., Ltd, Guangdong Metals and Minerals Import & Export Group Corporation, Liuzhou China Tin Group Co., Ltd, Guizhou Provincial Metals and Minmetals I/E Corporation, Yunan United Antimony Co., Ltd，Hsikwangshan Twingkling Star Co., Ltd, Zhazixi Antimony Mine Of Anhua Hunan China, Hunan Taojiang Banxi Stibium Mine, Hunan Chenzhou Mining Group, Yiyang Huachang Antimony Industry Co.,Ltd, Shenzhen Jiefu Group Co., Ltd, etc. There is one thing which should be clarified that there is not even one company from Lengshuijiang region except Hsikwangshan Twingkling Star Co., Ltd being invited to attend the meeting.
The meeting was finished within one day and participants held a warm discussion yesterday. They exchanged ideas and reached consensuses on how to face with the current situation in the latter half of year. There are three major parts of the meeting, which are the market review, future market analysis and countermeasures participants should carry out in the future.
AIn the first part, participants review the price trend in the first half of year and the reasons for the antimony ingot to become tight. They concluded four reasons: firstly, the Chinese government has been carried out a strict control on the explosives in view of the security reasons during the Olympic Games; secondly, the government put great emphasis on the supervision on safety production and environment pollution control. Many private-owned and small-sized antimony plants which do not conform to the safety production and environmental protection standards have been shut down; thirdly, many smelters have suspended production due to the hot summer season in view of the safety production policies; fourthly, the antimony concentrate becomes tight due to the above three reasons. Therefore, the output of antimony ingot drop sharply which finally led to the price skyrocketing these days in August.
As for the analysis for the future market, many participants believe the price may hang around at high levels in the latter half of year. There are totally three reasons to support this point of view. Firstly, as the political situation is very complicated this year because many terrorists constantly carried out terrorist events in China, the government will probably not release the control on the explosives, even after the Olympic and Para-Olympic Games; secondly, it is a long-term supervision for the government on the safety production and environmental protection and it may only become stricter in the future; thirdly, as the supply of antimony ingot is short, smugglers could not even get the metal to ship outside China. According to conservative statistics, there are around 60% of Lengshuijiang-based smelters have suspended production so far, but no ones know the exact figure of the output being reduced, as there are so many small smelters in this region and it is difficult for people to do the research and collect the figures. Therefore, the antimony price is likely to stay at a high level in the latter half of year.
Many participants have also reached consensus on the counter measures that how to keep the market running at a high level. On the one hand, many participants believe that the Lengshuijiang region controls the whole China and the world market as most of the metal comes from this region after the mines closed by the government in Nandan Guangxi. However, almost all smelters in Lengshuijiang region quote excluding value added tax, which means the price is lower and more competitive than those quotations from state-owned or large and formal companies. It is a great impact on the export supplying companies, and also it incites the smugglers to do the smuggling business. Participants finally decided to write a report to the Ministry of Commerce and other departments concerned for the unreasonable phenomenon in Lengshuijiang region with the hope of the government to shut down these plants or force them to carry out business in accordance with the formal regulations; on the other hand, participants suggested to "reduce the output" and try all means to avoid the excessive supply in the market. All participants should be united as one in order to make the market stable at a high level. Some participants stated that as the supply of antimony concentrate of the state-owned mines is short, they have to import the materials from Myanmar and Russia, but the prices of the imported materials are high which led them to make little or no profits. They plan to reduce the output of antimony ingot by not importing the material from these countries in the latter half of year and only consuming the antimony concentrate from their own mines, so that they could help the market to keep at a high level.
AsBesides, some antimony trioxide smelters have also posed some questions. The convention in the antimony trioxide market is that suppliers should deliver the goods at first and get the money back in three months or some times even in six months. This has brought to the antimony trioxide smelters with great inconvenience and looses and also affected a good capital circulation of these companies. Therefore, antimony trioxide smelters have reached a consensus that trioxide buyers should "pay instantly" or make the payment within one or two months at the latest, or else buyers will be refused by any orders or inquires they sent.
AsParticipants stated that these state-owned smelters will resume production by the end of August when major consumers from Europe come back to the market. There will be antimony ingot to supply by mid-September. However, smelters are not going to release the material by then, because they want to keep the antimony market high. According to participants, the inventories holding on hand are indeed very little with some holding around 100 tons and the supply of antimony ingot is very tight.
The 18 companies includes China Minmetals Non-ferrous Metals Co., Ltd, Hunan ZhongNan Antimony & Tungsten Trading Co., Ltd, Guangdong Metals and Minerals Import & Export Group Corporation, Liuzhou China Tin Group Co., Ltd, Guizhou Provincial Metals and Minmetals I/E Corporation, Yunan United Antimony Co., Ltd，Hsikwangshan Twingkling Star Co., Ltd, Zhazixi Antimony Mine Of Anhua Hunan China, Hunan Taojiang Banxi Stibium Mine, Hunan Chenzhou Mining Group, Yiyang Huachang Antimony Industry Co.,Ltd, Shenzhen Jiefu Group Co., Ltd, etc. There is one thing which should be clarified that there is not even one company from Lengshuijiang region except Hsikwangshan Twingkling Star Co., Ltd being invited to attend the meeting.
The meeting was finished within one day and participants held a warm discussion yesterday. They exchanged ideas and reached consensuses on how to face with the current situation in the latter half of year. There are three major parts of the meeting, which are the market review, future market analysis and countermeasures participants should carry out in the future.
AIn the first part, participants review the price trend in the first half of year and the reasons for the antimony ingot to become tight. They concluded four reasons: firstly, the Chinese government has been carried out a strict control on the explosives in view of the security reasons during the Olympic Games; secondly, the government put great emphasis on the supervision on safety production and environment pollution control. Many private-owned and small-sized antimony plants which do not conform to the safety production and environmental protection standards have been shut down; thirdly, many smelters have suspended production due to the hot summer season in view of the safety production policies; fourthly, the antimony concentrate becomes tight due to the above three reasons. Therefore, the output of antimony ingot drop sharply which finally led to the price skyrocketing these days in August.
As for the analysis for the future market, many participants believe the price may hang around at high levels in the latter half of year. There are totally three reasons to support this point of view. Firstly, as the political situation is very complicated this year because many terrorists constantly carried out terrorist events in China, the government will probably not release the control on the explosives, even after the Olympic and Para-Olympic Games; secondly, it is a long-term supervision for the government on the safety production and environmental protection and it may only become stricter in the future; thirdly, as the supply of antimony ingot is short, smugglers could not even get the metal to ship outside China. According to conservative statistics, there are around 60% of Lengshuijiang-based smelters have suspended production so far, but no ones know the exact figure of the output being reduced, as there are so many small smelters in this region and it is difficult for people to do the research and collect the figures. Therefore, the antimony price is likely to stay at a high level in the latter half of year.
Many participants have also reached consensus on the counter measures that how to keep the market running at a high level. On the one hand, many participants believe that the Lengshuijiang region controls the whole China and the world market as most of the metal comes from this region after the mines closed by the government in Nandan Guangxi. However, almost all smelters in Lengshuijiang region quote excluding value added tax, which means the price is lower and more competitive than those quotations from state-owned or large and formal companies. It is a great impact on the export supplying companies, and also it incites the smugglers to do the smuggling business. Participants finally decided to write a report to the Ministry of Commerce and other departments concerned for the unreasonable phenomenon in Lengshuijiang region with the hope of the government to shut down these plants or force them to carry out business in accordance with the formal regulations; on the other hand, participants suggested to "reduce the output" and try all means to avoid the excessive supply in the market. All participants should be united as one in order to make the market stable at a high level. Some participants stated that as the supply of antimony concentrate of the state-owned mines is short, they have to import the materials from Myanmar and Russia, but the prices of the imported materials are high which led them to make little or no profits. They plan to reduce the output of antimony ingot by not importing the material from these countries in the latter half of year and only consuming the antimony concentrate from their own mines, so that they could help the market to keep at a high level.
AsBesides, some antimony trioxide smelters have also posed some questions. The convention in the antimony trioxide market is that suppliers should deliver the goods at first and get the money back in three months or some times even in six months. This has brought to the antimony trioxide smelters with great inconvenience and looses and also affected a good capital circulation of these companies. Therefore, antimony trioxide smelters have reached a consensus that trioxide buyers should "pay instantly" or make the payment within one or two months at the latest, or else buyers will be refused by any orders or inquires they sent.
AsParticipants stated that these state-owned smelters will resume production by the end of August when major consumers from Europe come back to the market. There will be antimony ingot to supply by mid-September. However, smelters are not going to release the material by then, because they want to keep the antimony market high. According to participants, the inventories holding on hand are indeed very little with some holding around 100 tons and the supply of antimony ingot is very tight.
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