The Chinese germanium market is expected to continue to benefit in 2019 from an uptick in demand from downstream sectors such as fiber-optics, photovoltaic systems and infrared applications, market sources told Fastmarkets on Friday January 4.
And possible purchases of germanium by a department of the country's government may add further fuel to the rise in the metal's price.The optical fiber, photovoltaic and infrared sectors are the three principal consumers of germanium. Together, they account for about 70% of the total consumption of the metal, market participants said.China's domestic germanium market has already shown a rise in demand from these sectors over the past year. Fastmarkets' domestic price assessment for germanium metal in China, min 99.999%, averaged 9,482 yuan ($1,377) per kg in 2018, an increase of 24.3% year-on-year.The country's largest germanium producer, Yunnan Germanium, recorded a profit of 9.09 million yuan in the first three quarters of 2018. This was an increase of 126.8% compared with the same period in 2017, according to a company report.This report showed that, in the first three quarters in 2018, sales of germanium tetrachloride (GeCl4) to the fiber-optic communications...