A review at global indium market in 2014 and the outlook for it in 2015
Back in 2014, the Chinese indium ingot prices didn’t move forward like the continuous rising in 2013; it only rose in small scale at the beginning of 2014, then had been steady with a little fluctuation. However, at the end of the last year, affected by slower purchasing activities on the investment market, indium price unexpectedly fell sharply, happening both at home and abroad. Will indium price stay at the low end in 2015, changing it’s unceasingly increase in the past 3 years? Can Chinese indium price be in line with the global indium price, changing the price inversion situation in the coming year?
Indium ingot demand in South Korea and new development of ITO industry
The global demand for flat panel continues to increase. With the gradual increase in the downstream demand and good prospects for ITO industry, how’s the development of ITO industry in South Korea development and can it bring global indium market more confidence?
Can Chinese deep processing products for indium metal have breakthrough?
China’s indium ingot production is large while consumption is small. China mainly produce(s) crude indium and refined indium, while the industrialization of deep processing of indium products has been no breakthrough. High purity indium, ITO target materials, semiconductor containing indium materials etc, high technology and high value-added products haven't been able to become competitive in the global market, a large number of which imported from abroad instead. Can deep processing products of the indium metal in China make any significant progress in 2015?
World indium ingot supply and consumption pattern in 2015
With the improvement technology of recovering indium, more and more countries extract from waste containing indium metal to produce indium ingots, main consumers of which are still concentrated in East Asia. Japan scatters their purchase to South Korea, Europe and America; while South Korea also exports in addition to produce their own consumption. Because indium ingot prices stays firm in China, the main consumers of the material rarely imported from China in the recent years. However, in the face of excess supply, are Chinese suppliers willing to change their thoughts, returning to the international market?
2014 global germanium market in retrospect and prospect
With the growing integration of the industrial chain in 2014, China continues to have a greater say in germanium metal prices. Although last year global germanium market is not active, the price is still stable at high level with the downstream consumers purchase from hand to mouth. On the premise of protecting precious resources, China still ensures certain exports volume of germanium metal. With the development of downstream industries such as infrared and optical fiber, can the global consumption of germanium metal increase in 2015? In the face of the global growing demand and China's protection of strategic metals, how would germanium price trend in 2015?
The germanium application of the infrared optical material
Infrared thermal imager has been widely used in preventing detection, fire control, security, and night vision and other fields, which stands for a great potential demand for both military and commercial use. The infrared optical application field is still the main growth point of future demand for germanium metal.
China’s exploration for of high value-added germanium products
Although China is a major producer of germanium metal, it's not a major consumer of the metal germanium. How can main germanium production enterprises in China break the technical bottleneck and exports are not limited to metal germanium, but that with high added value, like germane, infrared lens.
