China’s antimony production in September almost halved from a year earlier as producers reduced output, in response to low spot prices and flat consumer buying interest.

Domestic concentrate output fell by 45.8pc from a year earlier to 3,900t of metal content in September, data from the China nonferrous metals industry association show.

January-September production declined to 45,100t, down by 29.5pc from the same period of 2018, after large producers cut output in response to surplus supply.

The fall in concentrate output has prevented prices from declining since September. Prices have also been supported since the start of September by China Minmetals’ purchase of 18,661t of antimony metal stocks from the former Fanya Metal Exchange on 31 August.

The auction shored up confidence in the spot market, with producers insisting on higher offer prices and withholding material from spot sale because of limited profit margins and tighter concentrate availability.

Flat demand has offset tight spot availability to leave prices for 99.65pc metal unchanged since 22 October at Yn39,500-41,500/t, up from Yn35,000-36,000/t on 3 September. Prices are likely to remain stable in the short term.

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This article was retrieved from Argus Metals