Market participants in both China and Europe have been taking a wait-and-see approach to procurement in the run-up to the auctions of four cargoes of minor metals formerly held by the Fanya Metal Exchange.
On October 11, Southwestern China's Kunming Intermediate People's Court announced germanium, gallium, tellurium and selenium stocks will be auctioned over a 24-hour period starting at 10am Shanghai time on October 27. Fastmarkets looks at how the minor metals markets have reacted since then. Germanium market holds its breath Some germanium market participants in China showed interest in bidding at the auction but hold reservations due to concerns ranging from financing constraints to the quality of the material. "We are considering whether to bid in the auction. Currently our concern is that it's hard to borrow money from banks, and based on our own calculation, the starting price is not that cheap after taking into consideration of all the related fees together with the possible reprocessing charges," a germanium producer in China said. "We are not quite sure about the quality of the Fanya stocks, and it is said much of it...