China's Antimony Ingot Output in July Fell Due to Enduring Tight Supply of Antimony Raw Materials

SHANGHAI, Aug 10 (SMM) - According to SMM survey, China's antimony ingot (including antimony ingot, converted crude antimony, cathode antimony, etc.) output in July 2022 fell 6.55% month-on-month to 7,377 mt. On the whole, the enduring tight supply of antimony raw materials still inhibited the growth of domestic refined antimony production. In recent months, the domestic demand for antimony products, especially the antimony oxide, has been sluggish. The consumption dropped dramatically in July, and the export orders also shrunk significantly. Many suppliers of antimony oxide even reported that the export orders had halved since the beginning of the summer. The poor sales of antimony oxide also affected the purchase or production of refined antimony by antimony oxide manufacturers, which dampened the willingness of antimony ingot manufacturers to produce. Judging from the production situation in July, basically all the manufacturers that SMM had investigated had cut their production, and a large number of manufacturers had suspended the production. Among the 32 survey respondents, the manufacturers who suspended the production in July added one to 14 compared with June; 13 reduced their production, flat from the number in June, and 6 maintained normal production. For example, Flash Star Antimony, one of the largest antimony producers in China, stopped its antimony production again on July 25, 2022, with all its blast furnaces and antimony white furnaces shut down. It is expected that the enterprise’s output in August will also be affected by the suspension. The resumption time has not yet been determined. SMM predicts that the supply and demand of the domestic antimony products market in August will remain basically unchanged under the current economic situation, especially with the continuous weak demand. It is expected that the domestic antimony ingot production in August may be flat from July.