BEIJING (Asian Metal) 23 Dec 20 - Guangxi Wanshizhi Rare and Precious Metal Technology Co., Ltd. suspended antimony ingot 99.85%min production early last week for routine equipment maintenance, and plans to resume production early next week, expecting to have an output of around 200t in December, a source from the company revealed.

The source said, "We launched routine equipment maintenance early last week and suspended antimony ingot 99.85%min production at the same time, expecting to resume operation early next week. Affected by the two-week suspension, we expect our output in December to be around 200t. As we have no spot stocks available during the suspension period, we do not take the imitative to provide quotations to clients for the time being," According to the source, currently in China antimony ingot suppliers begin to raise their prices owing to tight raw material supply. The source also feels that raw material supply becomes tighter in December than in November, and some downstream consumers who feel bullish on future price trend are active in sending enquiries.

With an annual production capacity of 6,000t of antimony ingot 99.85%min, the company expects to produce about 200t in December, in comparison to about 400t in November. They hold no spot stocks now. The company produced about 4,500t in 2019 and expects to have an output of around 4,000t in 2020.

Currently in China, mainstream prices for antimony ingot 99.85%min stay at RMB41,000-42,000/t (USD6,267-6,419/t) EXW D/P, up by RMB500/t (USD76.42/t) from early last week.