Nihon Seiko to Raise Antimony Trioxide Price by 40 Yen/kg

Nihon Seiko, Japanese largest producer of antimony trioxide, announced on Monday the firm raises the selling price of antimony trioxide by 40 yen per kilogram effective for delivery on 1 July. Antimony trioxide is used as fire retardant for plastics. The firm decided the price hike to reflect the upsurge of the international antimony ingot price and substantial material costs. The firm previously announced the price hike in March 2007 by 50 yen per kg.The current price of antimony ingot is US$ 6,400 per tonne, higher by 15% year-on-year. Antimony supply is concerned to become tighter in China due to the heavy snow in January 2008 and the huge earthquake in May 2008. Security reinforcement toward Beijing Olympic in August is also supporting the international antimony price. China is the world largest antimony supplier.Nihon Seiko has procured Chinese high-grade-label antimony ingot. The premium is recently surging when the demand for antimony ingot is increasing due to the higher regards to environment responsibility.Substantial costs are expanding as well when crude oil future price is soaring to over US$ 130 per barrel. Nihon Seiko decided the price hike for antimony trioxide to reflect these material cost expansions.