Spot offers of 553-grade 98.5% silicon metal in Asia remained strong on higher Chinese indications, industry sources said Thursday.
S&P Global Platts assessed the Chinese spot export price for 553-grade 98.5% silicon metal at $1,470-$1,500/mt FOB China Thursday, flat from last week.
The Japanese spot import price of 98.5% 553-grade silicon metal widened to $1,450-$1,500/mt CIF Japan Thursday, from $1,450-$1,460/mt a week earlier.
A south China-based trader said FOB offers were up slightly at $1,500/mt as the supply was still tight, while a southwest China-based producer put FOB offers at in excess of $1,500/mt.
"Domestic offers are at Yuan 10,400-10,500/mt ($1,522-1,537/mt), delivered to Huangpu port and FOB offers are at $1,530-$1,540/mt using an exchange rate of Yuan 6.8 to a dollar. Stocks are still limited as many Chinese producers have cleared their inventories in March-April ahead of anticipated weak demand during the summer lull," the southwestern Chinese producer added.
A northwest China-based producer indicated his domestic offers at Yuan 10,300-10,400/mt, delivered to Huangpu port, while a north China-based producer kept his offers steady at Yuan 10,300-10,400/mt, delivered to Huangpu port and $1,490-1,520/mt FOB China.
"Offers traditionally will slip during summer on lower electricity costs.
However, the cost of production has gone up by Yuan 700-800/mt this year and offers are unlikely to fall as much as the previous year's," the southwestern Chinese producer said.
An east China-based analyst, however, reckoned offers to be steady this week.
"Tradable domestic offers are generally steady at Yuan 10,200/mt Huangpu port. There are limited overseas trades and tradable FOB offers at steady $1,470-$1,480/mt with small volume of trades heard done," said the eastern Chinese analyst.
He added: "Not all Sichuan silicon plants have resumed operations but they are generally smaller producers, and the impact on the overall output is not big. Yunnan plants are open, but they are slowing ramping up their productions."
Japanese sources said they had heard a Chinese offer at as high as $1,560/mt CIF Japan for mid-July loading and the lowest offer was at $1,440/mt CIF Japan.
"Prices fluctuate according to the Chinese Yuan rate against the dollar. Some Chinese suppliers decrease offers by $20-$30/mt when the dollar weakens, some raise prices because silicon raw material costs are up," a Japanese trader said.
A second Japanese trader said mainstream offers were around $1,500/mt CIF Japan for late July loading. "I am not buying because Japanese end-users are not placing orders this week," he said.
The dollar was trading at Yuan 6.8197 Thursday, compared with Yuan 6.7852 last Thursday and Yuan 6.793 two Thursdays ago.
