Caution urged amid rising fluorspar prices

• Autores: Albert Li
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 598, 2017 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Diciembre/Enero)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • A reduction in global output, particularly from China recently, has combined with a rise in demand from fluorspar’s downstream markets and has led to the increase in prices, buyers and sellers agreed.While many had expected an increase after negotiations began at the Industrial Minerals Fluorspar conference in Amsterdam at the end of October, some have been surprised at the level of increases while more deals near completion. While the output reduction of fluorspar and its downstream products such as hydrofluoric acid (HF) and aluminium fluoride (AlF3) in China has led to higher demand domestically, producers and consumers outside of China have cautioned against committing too much material to the country. “While the long winter lasts, fluorspar production may stop in mid or late January, before the Spring Festival in February, because usually factories will be closed for holidays and workers will travel back to their home towns in advance - sometimes one month ahead of the festival. [...]production may stop for more than a month in China, [and] then demand will surely outstrip supply,” the trader in Southern China said.Expectations of what will happen after the public holiday divided the market, however, with some suggesting that prices will go down from February onward and others believing that prices will remain above $300 now that the “psychological barrier has been broken”.