Moly & Tungsten prices going up !
China's Baosteel buys 460 tonnes of ferro-molybdenum
BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 26-Apr-12. Baosteel, one of China's largest steel mills, has bought 460 tonnes of ferro-molybdenum at RMB118,500-119,000/tonne paid in cash, a prelude to a new wave of buying by Chinese steel mills, industry sources said.
This is the fifth tender by Baosteel this year. The mill's last purchase was made on Mar 27 at the same price, reflecting a stable market.
On the spot market, cash ferro-molybdenum 60% grade prices are in a range of RMB123,000-124,000/tonne and slightly higher at RMB126,000-127,000/tonne for material paid by acceptance bill, little changed from a week earlier.
Trade sources said the price paid by Baosteel was lower than the spot price because the company pays cash in full for a larger amount and over a shorter period than acceptance bills.
-By Jason Wu in Beijing (jason@metal-pagese.asia)
Chinese smelters raise tungsten carbide prices
BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 26-Apr-12. Chinese smelters have raised offers for tungsten carbide late this week because of an increase in interest from cemented carbide producers, traders said.
The offers for tungsten carbide grade 99.7% have been raised to RMB302-307/kg from RMB300-305/kg at which trades were done over the past couple of weeks.
|
Tungsten carbide min 99.7% EXW price for 26 Apr 2012
|
|
|
|
Market
|
|
|
Price
|
300.00 - 305.00
|
|
Previous
|
300.00 - 305.00
|
|
Change
|
|
Metal prices
|
“The enquiries from cemented carbide producers keep increasing. This has encouraged smelters to raise offers for tungsten carbide, the main production material for cemented carbide products,” a Hunan-based smelter source said but added that so far, buyers have not been willing to accept higher prices.
“The future market is likely to see some improvement considering there is an increasing number of market enquires and the price for tungsten concentrate is rising,” a smelter source in Jiangxi province said.
The export market has remained dead, as most overseas buyers, especially in Europe, are reluctant to buy in due to the weak demand from consumption.
Export prices for tungsten carbide have softened to $50-51/kg, down from $51-52/kg in the last few weeks.
-By Hellen Hu in Beijing (hellen@metal-pages.asia)
Tungsten concentrate prices rise in China
BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 26-Apr-12. Tungsten concentrate prices have increased a little more late this week on the back of rising number of enquiries from producers of heavily-processed tungsten, traders said.
The prices for wolframite grade 65% have been raised to RMB122,000-124,000/tonne, up from RMB121,000-123,000/tonne seen early this week.
“The increasing number of enquiries for production material from cemented carbide and tungsten powder producers have encouraged miners and traders to further raise offers for tungsten concentrates,” a source at a Jiangxi-based smelter said. He confirmed that the prices for tungsten concentrates have risen by another RMB1,000/tonne.
“Orders in the spot market have not seen an evident increase. It is hard to say that the prices will pick up much further in May,” a smelter source in Hunan province said.
The prices for scheelite grade 65% have risen to RMB121,000-122,000/tonne, up from RMB120,000-121,000/tonne a few days ago.
-By Hellen Hu in Beijing (hellen@metal-pages.asia)