China Magnesium: Export trade thin after week-long Chinese holiday

2015-10-12

China magnesium export trade

Spot export trades in Chinese magnesium ingot, on an FOB basis, were extremely thin on the dearth of interest from Chinese market participants so soon after the October 1-7 National Day holiday, industry sources said Thursday.

The weekly assessment by Platts of magnesium ingot (minimum 99.8%) was lowered to $2,010-$2,050 FOB China Thursday from $2,020-$2,060/mt last week on the persisting weakness in demand.

The Chinese magnesium die-cast alloy price assessment was also lowered to $2,290-$2,330/mt FOB China from $2,300-$2,340/mt the previous week.

"There's nothing much as we just returned from a holiday. The market will need some time to warm up," said a south China-based trader, who reckoned offers to be steady at the pre-holiday level of $2,050/mt FOB.

A northwestern Chinese producer said he reckoned market offers were steady around $2,050/mt FOB for acid washed grade and Yuan 12,500/mt ex-works for non-acid washed grade, while the northern Chinese analyst offers were heard steady at $2,030-$2,070/mt FOB and Yuan 12,700-13,000/mt ex-works.

Prices at lower end of the two ranges are for Shaanxi and the higher end is for Shanxi. Shaanxi's offers are lower than Shanxi as it has lower production costs.

"I have not bought anything this week. Last week, I checked the market and I heard offers at $2,020-2,030/mt CFR Japan. The freight from China to Japan is about $20/mt and the FOB equivalent price is $2,000-2,010/mt," a Japanese trader said.

Another Japanese trader said the fourth-quarter Chinese magnesium export price was around $2,100-2,150/mt CIF Japan for high grade material, unchanged from Q3 mainly due to stagnant demand despite the slowdown in magnesium production.

This Japanese trader said he had bought at this level for his Q4 requirements but declined to comment on the tonnage and the purity level.

The northwestern Chinese producer reckoned that the high grade material to be of 99.95% purity.

He said the price of his high grade material was about $50/mt more than the standard grade of 99.8% purity, while the northern Chinese analyst said the price gap between the two grades was Yuan 500-600/mt.

Source from : Global Chemical Network

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