Firm Offers from Silicon Metal Smelters, Prices Cease to Fall

SHANGHAI, Jul. 7 (SMM) -- China's domestic silicon metal prices ceased to fall and stay stable due to firm offers from smelters. SMM latest mainstream offers at Huangpu port were between RMB 11,200-11,500/mt for #553 silicon metal, between RMB 12,000-12,400/mt for #441 silicon metal, between RMB 12,600-13,000/mt for #3303 silicon metal, and between RMB 13,500-13,900/mt for #2202 silicon metal. Enquiries increased, but transactions were moderate with strong wait-and-see attitude in the market.

According to SMM sources, some producers in Guizhou province were noticed that electricity prices shall be lowered by RMB 0.07/kWh as of June 1st. Although the electricity prices have been lowed to certain extent, the adjustment is still disappointing, given that prices were still around RMB 0.5/kWh after adjustment. Currently, local producers haven't resumed production immediately and some producers preferred to adopt a wait-and-see attitude before making any production resumption plan. Shibing Hengsheng Co, the largest silicon metal producer in Asia, planned to resume production from June 20th. Producers in Hunan, Fujian and other provinces continued to keep firm offers due to cancellation of favorable electricity prices. SMM believes that electricity prices will be higher than expectation after adjustment, expect those in Yunnna and Sichuan provinces. In this context, silicon metal prices will cease to slip and remain stable in the short term.

To contact the writer on this report: naturewang@smm.cn

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