China Antimony Exporters Offer Japan Users Extra Charge

Chinese antimony exporters are offering Japanese antimony trioxide makers an extra charge of more than US$ 200 per tonne. Antimony price announced by London Metal Bulletin, an indicator for global antimony market, keeps around US$ 5,500 per tonne in a year for 99.65% purity.A background is that Japanese antimony trioxide makers are recently purchasing antimony ingot with less lead to follow RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and REACH (Regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) by European Union. To lower lead content, antimony purity is improved to 99.85% from usual level of 99.65%. Chinese exporters offer an extra charge for higher purification.At the same time, Chinese exporters seem to put an extra charge in order to cover the impact of Chinese tax return termination. Chinese antimony exporters hiked their selling prices when Chinese government lowered tax return rate for antimony ingot from 8% to 5% in January 2006. As a result, international antimony market jumped up by 50% in 4 months.