Spot prices of 98.5% 553-grade silicon metal in Asia continued to rise this week as suppliers lifted offer prices on deepening output cuts in South China.
Platts assessed the Chinese export spot price at $2,050-2,090/mt FOB China Thursday, up from $2,040-2,060/mt FOB a week earlier. The Japanese spot import price was assessed at $2,080-2,100/mt CIF Japan Thursday, up from $2,050-2,100/mt CIF last week.
Deals and inquiries were sparse this week due to Christmas holidays overseas and because buyers find current offer prices to be too high, Chinese sellers said. Offers from China were heard at $2,060-2,150/mt FOB this week.
Two Japanese traders said offers were in the range of $2,080-2,130/mt CIF Japan for January-February shipments. A third Japanese trader said there was an offer at $2,050/mt CIF Japan from a producer, but other traders said offers below $2,080/mt were difficult to find.
A Japanese aluminum extruder in Toyama prefecture has awarded a 20-30 mt buy tender on Wednesday at around Yen 220/kg delivered ($2,115/mt), which would be around $2,060-2,070/mt on a CIF basis, local traders said. The extruder declined to comment.
Japanese traders said the spot market was quiet this week, and orders received were for small lots of around 20 mt.
More producers in Yunnan are expected to halt production at the end of this month, with more to follow by the end of January. Output cuts and stoppages are underway in Yunnan and Sichuan as power rates have climbed with the start of the dry season in the hydropower-dependent south.
"Supply is tight. Chinese producers do not want to run their plants this month because Lunar New Year is only a month away," said a Japanese trader.
Some producers are also limiting sales as they expect tighter supply and stronger demand in January.
"We still have about 1,200 mt of stock in our warehouses which we plan to sell when prices increase further," said an official with a producer which has factories in Hunan and Yunnan. "Prices typically rise prior to Chinese New Year as downstream users will start stockpiling for winter production."
Transacted prices for Chinese domestic 553-grade silicon at Huangpu port were at Yuan 12,200-12,400/mt ($1,993-2,026/mt) Thursday, unchanged week on week.