Markets stay strong--Demand and prices remain high

摘要

WITH several minor metals already at historical high levels, many analysts were expecting prices to ease back. But, surprisingly, demand has remained strong. In the case of antimony, indium and selenium in particular, prices have surged even higher. Antimony continues to confound everyone as prices moved up through US$14,500/tto be close to US$ 15,000/t. Previous historical highs in the 1980s were around US$6,500/t. On top of the cutbacks in smelter production caused by environmental restrictions, winter weather and the pre-Chinese New Year holiday slowdown hampered production and disrupted shipments of antimony ore to smelters, many of which halted production for the Chinese New Year and faced raw-material shortages afterwards.