China has sent teams to eight provinces - Shanxi, Liaoning, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hunan, Guangxi and Yunnan - to carry out month-long environmental inspections as of April 9, a report from China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment said.
Fastmarkets examines the market reaction in the tungsten and three other minor metals' (indium, bismuth, antimony) markets to the ongoing environmental inspections.
Tungsten market
China's domestic tungsten concentrate and ammonium paratungstate (APT) markets strengthened following news of the environmental inspections.
Tungsten product producers in Jiangxi province, where most of China's tungsten concentrate and APT output i, have already either reduced output or suspended operations before the inspection team came on April 7, sources said.
"The major and medium-sized tungsten product producers, which have the necessary facilities to treat waste, chose to cut output. The small-sized plants, however, temporarily suspended operations to avoid being ordered to shut down," a trader said.
"I heard some tungsten mines stopped operating in Jiangxi and APT producers were reluctant to sell their material in the spot market, apart from those that need to be delivered as part of long-term contracts," the...