Fluorspar: Price increases in China suggest coronavirus supply disruption
roskill.com
Posted 6th March 2020 in ?Industry news.
By Adam Coggins
There are reports that the ongoing outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19) is impacting Chinese fluorspar availability and has led to an up-tick in prices. The domestic price of acidspar (wet, =97% CaF2) increased in the final two weeks of February 2020 to reach an average of RMB3,100/t (US$442/t) on 27 February, up from RMB2,908/t (US$417/t) on 13 February, the first movement in seven weeks and the highest price since July 2019. The export price (97% CaF2, wet filter cake, FOB) also rose in the last week of February, reaching US$420-470/t, up from US$400-450/t the week before and having previously held stable since late October 2019.
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Chinese fluorspar prices remained flat in January and the first half of February 2020, the period which saw the rapid rise and peak in daily confirmed cases of Coronavirus in China. The reason for the stability is understood to have been resumption of both upstream and downstream industrial activity following the Spring Festival holiday disruption, meaning both supply and demand were limited to a similar extent. Since then, downstream operations have begun to restart but it is reported that mine production remains limited. This, coupled with continuing issues with logistics, has resulted in market tightness and subsequent price increases.
Supply tightness is likely to have been compounded by a lack of material imported from Mongolia, China’s most important fluorspar import partner. All borders between China and Mongolia remain closed in an effort toprevent the spread of the virus. There is limited available trade data on Chinese fluorspar shipments for 2020 so far, although reported imports of Chinese fluorspar by Japan (5,756t) and South Korea (3,894t) in January were within the typical monthly range. Data for February, when it becomes available, will provide a better impression of the impact of the virus on international supply chains, however.
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Contact the author This article was written by Adam Coggins. Please get in touch below if you wish to discuss further:
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