The rally in the antimony price reached a celling and began to trend downward with no signs of a rebound for the time being, with producers in China and traders in Europe destocking material at lower levels amid little buying appetite.
That said, external factors, such as upcoming environmental inspections in Hunan, China, and delays caused by the blockage of the Suez Canal could halt the decline, market sources said.
Price moves
Offers continued to
increase rapidly during the first week of March amid an antimony ore supply shortage, with
antimony metal prices in Europe finding support and rising by 90% year on year. But for the first time in 2021, these higher offers started to encounter some resistance from end consumers. In fact, some traders decided to close their positions due to concerns that the price rally could run into a wall and end.
By mid-month, significantly lower material offers for prompt availability appeared in Europe, with some traders destocking for profit-taking. This was in line with falling prices in China, where offers declined and some buyers remained on the sidelines.
This reversal in trend resulted in...