[Ferro-Alloys.com] The western antimony market looks to close out the 2013 year on a slowdown as prices remained sideways and demand slumped. Given the year-end holidays, the European antimony spot market was mostly halted as sellers indicated little interest from end-users. Prices were $9,450-9,750 per mt, ex-warehouse Rotterdam no change week-on-week. Despite the lack of interest, sources speculated that sharp increases remained possible as inventories are likely to be limited due to Minmetals’ stockpiling activity. The US market was also mostly listless as no substantial spot transactions were reported. Prices for US antimony are $4.28-4.40 per lb and are likely to hold until after the New Year. Even though demand has been weak for the past couple of weeks, a rebound is expected, and buyers will be guarded should prices jump after the holidays.

 

The Chinese antimony market experienced some additional gains this past week driven by tighter supply as smelters ceased production. Spot prices for antimony metal rose to 57,000-60,000 yuan ($9,406-9,900) per mt, VAT included. Many producers are reportedly reluctant to sell cheaper as a result of strong tungsten ore prices. Meanwhile, export prices have also increased to $9,400-9,800 per mt f.o.b. for smuggled material, and legal trade offers at $10,000 per mt f.o.b. The Chinese government issued the first set of export quotas for antimony in 2014, representing 70% of the annual aggregation. The government issued quotas for 6,302 mt of antimony ingot and 41,477 mt of antimony trioxide.