Weak Price for Indium Ingot in Japan

The market price of indium ingot is weak in Japan. Dowa Mining set official price for indium ingot with 99.99% purity, which is used for indium tin oxide (ITO) sputtering target material, at 110,000 yen per kilogram for large contract users and at 115,000 yen per kg for spot users for September domestic shipment. The both official prices were revised down by 5,000 yen from August shipment following the decline of international indium price. The market price seems to continue decreasing when ITO demand slows down currently.Japanese sputtering target material makers, the largest users of indium, advance the expansion for their output capacities along the growth of world liquid crystal panel market. However, liquid crystal panel makers, mainly in Taiwan, recently seem under inventory adjustment phase when they could not increase Soccer World Cup related sales as much as expected in June. Consequently ITO demand became relatively slow.International spot price for indium ingot, the indicator for Japanese official price, is decreasing by about 30% to $690-730 per kg currently from US$ 980-1,020 in February-March under the slow demand.