China's March refined bismuth output and April forecast

SMM surveys showed the output of refined bismuth in China was 1,923.275 mt in March, up 64.72% from 1167.599 mt in February. It is said that the output rebound in March was within expectations. Compared with the output of 2,618.416 mt last March, it has dropped significantly, in line with the current tight supply of bismuth raw materials. For example, a large factory in Henan with a stable output also stopped production last month due to a lack of bismuth raw materials. Among the 24 survey subjects, only one manufacturer had a significant decline in output in March while the output of six manufacturers increased dramatically. This led to a drastic increase in the overall bismuth ingot production in March compared with February in which the long Spring Festival holiday caused many manufacturers to haul production. Many market participants said that the current tight bismuth raw material supply led to the low output. Therefore, SMM predicts that the national refined bismuth output is likely to remain stable and can hardly return to above 2,000 mt again.

Notes: SMM has released China's refined bismuth output data since October 2022. Thanks to high coverage of the bismuth industry, SMM has successfully surveyed a total of 24 refined bismuth manufacturers, who are located in eight provinces across the country, with a total capacity of more than 50,000 mt and a total capacity coverage rate of over 99%.