BEIJING (Asian Metal) 7 Jan 21 - One major Chinese germanium metal 99.99%min producers, Xilingol Mengdong Germanium Technology Co., Ltd. plans to suspend germanium metal 99.99%min production permanently, a source from the company disclosed to Asian Metal.

The source noted that, "As our germanium metal 99.99%min production business overlaps with another company under our group, and our production cost keeps high than RMB10,000/kg (USD1,549/kg), we decided to permanently stop the production. We expect to produce germanium concentrate with 1% germanium metal and would begin to produce after the Spring Festival."

The producer, based on a production capacity of 15tpy of germanium metal 99.99%min, halted the production since May 2019. They hold about 3t of stocks now.

Currently, the mainstream prices of Chinese germanium metal 99.99%min hover at RMB6,900-7,300/kg (USD1,069-1,131/kg) EXW D/P, in line with early this week. Market participants predict that the prices would keep soft in the coming week due to limited deals in the spot market.