Asia spot export trades for Chinese silicon remained lackluster amid scant overseas demand, while offers continued to be under pressure from weak Chinese domestic prices, industry sources said Thursday.
S&P Global Platts lowered the weekly Chinese 98.5% 553-grade silicon metal price assessment to $1,620-$1,660/mt FOB Thursday, down from $1,670-$1,710/mt last Thursday.
A Japanese trader heard wide-ranging FOB offers at $1,600/mt to around $1,800/mt, while an east China-based trader put the market level at $1,650-$1,670/mt FOB and a south China-based trader generally heard steady offers on an extreme lack of spot trades but reckoned the tradable level was below $1,710/mt FOB, while an east China-based producer indicated offers at $1,620/mt FOB.
"I've heard Chinese offers are weaker and are down by $40-$50/mt from last week. This week, the lowest offer I heard is $1,600/mt FOB and the highest was $1,800/mt FOB, very wide range. There's no demand for silicon 553 now as the big three Japanese aluminum alloy smelters are issuing buy tender next week or the week after for their January-March requirements. Most market participants are waiting for the successful tender price to use as a guide. Anyway, the Chinese yuan has weakened against the dollar, lowering FOB export offers," said the Japanese trader.
Both the eastern Chinese trader and eastern Chinese producer reckoned that $1,600/mt FOB was too low and not realistic.
"I'm not so sure of the exact FOB offers level as I have not done anything recently. $1,600/mt FOB sounded a bit low; I think the tradable range is $1,650-$1,670/mt FOB. Silicon offers have been falling recently due to weaker demand," added the eastern Chinese trader.
The eastern Chinese producer and the southern Chinese trader reckoned that the around $1,600/mt FOB offer was likely for off grade material.
"Offers for silicon 553 metal are still falling and the market is extremely quiet. There's no demand. I'm heard indicative offers around $1,710/mt FOB but tradable is way below that. The market outlook is not good; Offers for off-grade with 97% silicon metal content are at the $1,600/mt FOB level," added the southern Chinese trader.
The east Chinese producer said she had heard that there would be inquiries coming from Japan as they would be looking at replenishing their January-March requirements from this Friday or next week.
"People are waiting for a rebound in the price. They will only buy while the price is rising and not when the price is falling," added the east Chinese producer, who indicated offers at $1,620/mt FOB this week.
The dollar was trading at Yuan 6.9392 Thursday, compared with Yuan 6.9163 last Thursday.
Chinese domestic 553 grade silicon price was Yuan 12,400-12,600/mt ($1,787-$1,816/mt) Thursday, delivered to Tianjin port this week, compared with Yuan 12,600-12,800/mt last Thursday and Yuan 12,800-13,000/mt on November 1, data from China Silicon Industry showed.
