The unresolved metals stocks of China's Fanya Metal Exchange remain the wild card in the indium market, despite the recent rise in the metal's price, Donna Vareha-Walsh, director of Indium Corp's metals business unit, told delegates at the annual Minor Metals Association (MMTA) conference in Montreal last week.
Metal Bulletin assessed indium prices at $345-370 per kg on Friday April 13, unchanged from the previous assessment and up from $250-270 per kg at the beginning of this year.The Kunming, China-based bourse was initially a boon to China's domestic market, providing another outlet for producers to sell their material, and giving a group of new investors the opportunity to step into the often-complicated financial markets.However, cracks began to show at the end of 2014, with some investors becoming wary as metal stocks continued to pile up thanks to new production coming on to feed demand for the exchange's products. As sentiment soured, the exchange found itself exposed to metals prices that were continuously falling, while also being accused of failing to pay suppliers.The bourse was shut down following investors' protests, the arrest of the chairman and an investigation into the exchange's allegedly fraudulent activity, but the question of just...