Europe’s antimony market faces uncertainty after years of volatility

Fastmarkets

Oct 15

European antimony prices have been broadly stable since late August, with market participants largely attributing the relative lack of liquidity to weak downstream demand and ample material still ...

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One of the best stock trading platforms in Singapore.","ogImage":"https://c1.itigergrowtha.com/portal5/static/media/og-logo.0a0bd8dc.png","ogUrl":"https://www.itiger.com/news/2675758690"},"companyName":"Tiger Brokers"},"pageData":{"isMobile":false,"isTiger":false,"isTTM":true,"region":"SGP","license":"TBSG","edition":"fundamental"},"isCrawlerRequest":true,"__swrFallback__":{"@#url:\"https://stock-news.skytigris.cn/v3/news\",params:#id:\"2675758690\",edition:\"fundamental\",auth_exemption:1,,,undefined,":{"share":"https://ttm.financial/m/news/2675758690?lang=en_US&edition=fundamental","thumbnail":"","is_english":true,"pubTime":"2026-10-15 12:00","share_image_url":"https://static.laohu8.com/e9f99090a1c2ed51c021029395664489","id":"2675758690","market":"fut","top_or_hot":-1,"title":"Europe’s antimony market faces uncertainty after years of volatility","media":"Fastmarkets","content":"<div>\n<p>European antimony prices have been broadly stable since late August, with market participants largely attributing the relative lack of liquidity to weak downstream demand and ample material still ...</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/europes-antimony-market-faces-uncertainty-after-years-of-volatility/\">Source Link</a>\n\n</div>\n","source":"fastmarkets_highlight","html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; 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overflow: hidden}\n.head .h-thumb { width: 30px; height: 30px; margin: 0; padding: 0; border-radius: 50%; float: left;}\n.head .h-content { margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 9px; float: left;}\n.head .h-name {font-size: 13px; color: #eee; margin: 0;}\n.head .h-time {font-size: 11px; color: #7E829C; margin: 0;line-height: 11px;}\n.small {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.9); -webkit-transform: scale(0.9); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.smaller {font-size: 12.5px; display: inline-block; transform: scale(0.8); -webkit-transform: scale(0.8); transform-origin: left; -webkit-transform-origin: left;}\n.bt-text {font-size: 12px;margin: 1.5em 0 0 0}\n.bt-text p {margin: 0}\n</style>\n</head>\n<body>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<header>\n<h2 class=\"title\">\nEurope’s antimony market faces uncertainty after years of volatility\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n2026-10-15 12:00 GMT+8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/europes-antimony-market-faces-uncertainty-after-years-of-volatility/><strong>Fastmarkets</strong></a>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<div>\n<p>European antimony prices have been broadly stable since late August, with market participants largely attributing the relative lack of liquidity to weak downstream demand and ample material still ...</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/europes-antimony-market-faces-uncertainty-after-years-of-volatility/\">Source Link</a>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"GCAD","symbol_name":"Gabelli Commercial Aerospace & Defense ETF","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/europes-antimony-market-faces-uncertainty-after-years-of-volatility/","article_id":"2675758690","we_media_id":null,"thumbnails":[],"rights":{"source":"fastmarkets_highlight","url":"https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/europes-antimony-market-faces-uncertainty-after-years-of-volatility/","rn_cache_url":null,"directOrigin":true},"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2675758690","pubTimestamp":1792036800,"columns":[],"sourceInfo":{"source_id":"fastmarkets_highlight","name":"Fastmarkets"},"weMediaInfo":null,"summary":"After more than two years of volatility, Europe’s antimony market seems to have entered a period of relative stability. However, market participants remain divided over whether this stability will last and what the next phase of price movements might look like.","collect":0,"end_time":0,"defaultTopTitle":"fastmarkets.com","property":[],"viewcount":null,"language":"en","relate_stocks":{"GCAD":"Gabelli Commercial Aerospace & Defense ETF","BK4197":"燃气公用事业","FITE":"SPDR Kensho Future Security ETF","LU2362541513.USD":"WELLINGTON NEXT GENERATION GLOBAL EQUITY \"A\" (USD) ACC","BK4588":"碎股","ATO":"ATMOS能源公司","BK4585":"ETF&股票定投概念","LU2362541273.HKD":"WELLINGTON NEXT GENERATION GLOBAL EQUITY \"A\" (HKD) ACC","EPV":"ProShares UltraShort MSCI Europe","JULD":"Premium Income 10 Barrier ETF","LU2362540622.SGD":"WELLINGTON NEXT GENERATION GLOBAL EQUITY \"A\" (SGDHDG) ACC","RSEE":"Rareview Systematic Equity ETF","QQQP":"Tradr 2X Long Innovation 100 Quarterly ETF","FOWF":"Pacer Solactive Whitney Future of Warfare ETF"},"translate_title":"欧洲锑市场在经历多年波动后面临不确定性","themeId":null,"isJumpTheme":false,"ttsUrl":null,"symbols_score_info":{"FITE":0.73,"FOWF":0.73,"GCAD":0.73,"QQQP":1.5,"ATO":1,"EPV":0.9,"JULD":1.5,"RSEE":1.5},"content_text":"European antimony prices have been broadly stable since late August, with market participants largely attributing the relative lack of liquidity to weak downstream demand and ample material still sitting in European warehouses. \n\nFastmarkets assessed the price for antimony max 100 ppm Bi, in-whs Rotterdam, at $18,300-19,000 per tonne on October 14, flat since September 4.  \n“Pricing wise, we are at a stalemate,” a trader source said. “We are struggling to move anything. No one is buying.”\n“Prices have shown some signs of moving in Europe, but are still generally stuck,” a smelter source said.\nBelgian specialty chemicals and circular metals producer Campine chief executive Willem De Vos told Fastmarkets that “the price reduction seems to have bottomed out”.\nCampine and France’s SICA AMG are among Europe’s largest buyers of antimony metal, and their purchasing activity and antimony trioxide (ATO) sales are closely watched as indicators of conditions in the global antimony market.\nYet while some participants believe the market has become more balanced after years of disruption, others point to shifting concentrate flows, changes in payables, and new mine supply as price-determining factors.\n“Everyone has different views. We are trying to work on if prices have hit a floor, what prices smelters can hold on to, and what the buying appetite will be from Europe’s main buyers,” a second trader source said.\nExport controls drove a sharp price rally\nThe uncertainty surrounding the current price phase of Europe’s antimony market largely stems from China’s introduction of export controls on antimony metal and related products in September 2024.\nThe restrictions prompted antimony consumers outside China to rush to secure alternative supply, drawing on inventories, stockpiles and trader-held material.\n“Export restrictions effectively created two markets: the Chinese market, where antimony metal could no longer be exported freely, and an international market that suddenly faced a significant supply shortfall,” a market source said.\nThe resulting scramble drove a sharp rally in antimony prices outside China. European antimony metal prices reached record highs of around $59,750 per tonne during June and July 2025, while antimony trioxide prices rose to €59 per kg ($67,383 per tonne).\n\nMost global antimony consumption is accounted for by flame retardants and lead-acid batteries, with smaller volumes used in glass, ceramics, alloys and pyrotechnics. Antimony also has several defense applications, including military ammunition, but these account for a relatively small share of global demand despite attracting increased attention amid rising geopolitical tensions.\nIn July 2026, China expanded its export controls by adding 14 European entities to its control list, including Germany-based trading company Antraco Chemie-Handelsgesellschaft and manufacturer Sindlhauser Materials.\nATO is used as an additive in flame-retardant products across industries including plastics and electronics. Other applications include antistatic coatings, touchscreens, solar cells and heat-insulating window films.\nHowever, market sources told Fastmarkets that the July 2026 controls were less disruptive than the initial 2024 measures because they expanded controls by targeting specific companies rather than imposing a blanket restriction on antimony metal exports.\nOne antimony trioxide market source told Fastmarkets that while ATO with a minimum 99.5% antimony content is primarily used in civilian applications such as flame retardants, Chinese authorities have nonetheless scrutinized trade flows of the material over concerns it could ultimately also be used in military applications.\nSince the second round of export controls, China has exported less antimony trioxide to the global market. Most of China’s antimony oxide exports have flowed to Russia this year, China’s customs data shows.\n\nHigh prices triggered a supply response, ATO substitution\nWhile China’s export controls exposed the global market’s dependence on Chinese metal, the resulting price spike also triggered a supply response and encouraged consumers to seek lower-cost alternatives.\nNew smelting capacity emerged across Southeast Asia, notably in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Tajikistan also strengthened its position as a key antimony producer.  According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the country was the world’s second-largest antimony producer in 2024.\n“The antimony market has progressively moved towards a more normalized supply-demand balance as additional smelting capacity in Southeast Asia has come on stream, partly filling the supply gap created by Chinese export restrictions introduced in 2024,” Campine said in its full year results, published on September 1.\nHigh prices also attracted opportunistic traders into what had previously been a niche and illiquid market, as participants sought to capitalize on price volatility.\nAt the same time, consumers began looking for ways to reduce their exposure to exceptionally high input costs, including by exploring alternatives to ATO-based products.\nChristopher Ecclestone, strategist and principal at financial advisory and research firm Hallgarten & Company, told Fastmarkets that at the peak of the rally, some flame-retardant customers adopted a ‘can’t pay, won’t pay stance which triggered a buyer’s strike.’\nOver time, the combination of additional supply and greater resistance from buyers helped bring European antimony metal and trioxide prices down from their peaks, according to market sources.\nAs prices declined, products containing antimony, including flame retardants, began to regain competitiveness, allowing demand to recover.\n“The urgency to approve replacement technologies has eased as ATO pricing has continued to decline,” St Louis Group’s Collin Papoccia told Fastmarkets.\nSt Louis Group is a supplier of flame retardant products in the US market. The company has a partnership with Empresa Minera Unificada, which it says operates Bolivia’s largest antimony mine, and also has operations in China.\nHow China’s demand for concentrates influenced the European market\nWhile market participants have adapted to the supply disruptions caused by China’s export controls as well as the new sources of supply outside China, developments in the global concentrate market continue to influence antimony prices outside the country, sources told Fastmarkets.\nChina has significantly increased imports of antimony feedstock since September 2025 while diversifying its supply base, reinforcing its position as a key driver of global concentrate demand. All of this has taken place as European prices have declined and domestic China prices remained relatively stable. \n\nAntimony concentrates are typically priced against metal values using a payable system, under which miners receive a percentage of the contained metal value. As Chinese smelters increased imports and competed with non-Chinese smelters for feedstock, demand in China exerted an influence on concentrate pricing globally.\n“China has become a net importer of antimony ore,” De Vos said. “If China wants to secure ore, it ultimately needs to pay the global price. For that reason, there will always be an equilibrium between Chinese and international prices.”\n“Despite export controls, concentrates producers still compete with Chinese smelters for access to the same raw materials,” an antimony concentrates trader said.\nAs a result, the divergence between Chinese and European antimony prices that emerged immediately after the introduction of export controls has gradually narrowed.\n“There seems to be a new kind of equilibrium between Chinese and global prices,” De Vos said.\nThe narrowing price gap suggests that, although export controls initially drove a wedge between Chinese and international antimony markets, the two are becoming more closely linked through competition for raw materials.\nMarket participants are closely watching developments in China for indications of how feedstock costs and smelter economics may evolve elsewhere. Strong Chinese demand for imported ore and concentrates could support global feedstock prices and limit further declines in European metal prices. Conversely, weaker Chinese demand or rising mined supply could put further downward pressure on the European market.\nThat link between Chinese prices, concentrate costs and smelter economics has become increasingly important as smelters look for ways to prevent further price declines to protect margins.\nConcentrate market clouds European price outlook\nChanges to concentrate pricing formulas have helped some antimony smelters protect margins and may have reduced downward pressure on European prices, market participants said. But while lower payable rates have provided some relief for smelters, sources said the outlook is increasingly being shaped by uncertainty around concentrate costs and developments in the Chinese market.\n“As prices have gone down, there has been an incentive for smelters to revise down payables,” a second antimony concentrates trader source said. “At the same time, smelters are still eager to secure good quality feedstock.”\nAnother source said some smelters had renegotiated payables with miners from around 70% to 55%.\nPayable rates have also become an increasingly important risk-management tool in a market with limited hedging options, Fastmarkets heard.\n“If you buy today and the cargo arrives six weeks later, you don’t know where the market price will be,” one source said. “The payable effectively provides a safety margin.”\nThe time lag between purchasing concentrates and selling refined metal leaves smelters exposed to price movements during transit and processing. With exchange-traded hedging instruments unavailable, negotiating payable rates offers one way to manage that exposure.\nSome market participants said the negotiations reflected pressure on smelter margins and could limit the scope for further price declines by helping smelters remain profitable at lower metal prices.\n“Some smelters in Southeast Asia exited the market; others renegotiated their terms,” a third trader source said. “They came into what seemed like an attractive market but struggled to stay afloat when prices gradually fell.”\nHowever, while sources point to changes in payables as a coping mechanism for some smelters, several market participants said attention is increasingly shifting back to raw material availability and concentrate costs.\n“Concentrates started to become more expensive when prices in China started rising,” a fourth trader source said, noting that most antimony concentrates are ultimately sold into China.\nThe source added that expectations of further price gains in China had encouraged some buyers to secure additional feedstock.\n“I want to buy concentrates because I think prices are going up. We need to lock down material. We have some stocks, but we still need to make purchases every month. If ore prices go up, raw material costs go up,” the second antimony concentrate source said.\nHowever, while antimony prices in China showed signs of strengthening from August, they have since stabilized and, more recently, gone down.\nFastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for antimony 99.85% min, in-whs China, was 100,000-103,000 ($14,943-15,392) yuan per tonne on October 9, down by 2.9% from the previous session. \n\nAntimony contract prices on the Zhonglianjin Exchange have also been weak since late August. Prices on the exchange last closed at 92,200 yuan on October 10, down by 12.8% from the closing price of 105,688 yuan per tonne on August 24. \nThese dynamics add a further layer of uncertainty to the market outlook, Fastmarkets heard.\n“There were expectations that rising prices in China could lift concentrate costs and support European antimony prices. But what initially looked like an upward trend in China has since levelled out,” a fifth trader source said.\nMany concentrate pricing agreements between miners and smelters are linked to domestic Chinese antimony prices, Fastmarkets understands. As a result, sustained weakness in China’s antimony market could ease raw material costs for smelters both within and outside the country, but an increase in Chinese prices could push concentrate costs higher and encourage smelters that supply material into Europe to defend higher offers.\n“What the levelling off of prices in China means for Europe is still too early to tell. I don’t see a clear trend in China,” the fifth trader source said.\nUncertainty persists over the next phase\nThe conflicting signals – competition for feedstock, changing concentrate payables, potential new mine supply and shifting smelting economics – leave the current price environment in Europe difficult to assess.\nCampine’s De Vos told Fastmarkets that additional mine supply could weigh on Europe’s antimony market.\n“There is still a lot of mining capacity due to come onstream in the next 12-18 months which could put pressure on prices,” he said.\nProjects such as Larvotto Resources’ Hillgrove mine in Australia are expected to bring additional antimony units to market over the coming years. \nLarvotto has targeted production of 4,900 tonnes of antimony annually over an initial eight-year mine life, with London-based trading house Wogen holding the concentrate offtake. Larvotto said on October 14 that it had shipped its first 68-tonne batch of antimony concentrate to Wogen. \nOthers argue that the strength of demand from the flame-retardants sector will be just as important in determining the market’s direction.\n“Flame retardants buyers’ fortunes dictate how strong antimony demand is in Europe,” Ecclestone said.\n“We still need to see demand gradually come back,” the third trader source said. \nUse trusted antimony prices and short-term outlooks to benchmark purchases, structure contracts, and manage risk across the minor metals supply chain. Backed by 150+ years of metals pricing, Fastmarkets delivers transparent data, downloadable history, and analysis you can defend internally. Find out more about Fastmarkets’ antimony prices here.","kind":"highlight","is_publish_news":true,"is_publish_highlight":false,"is_publish_live":false,"is_publish_wemedia":false,"editions":null,"column":"","sentiment":"0","news_tag":"","news_rank":0,"isVideo":false,"video":null,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":0,"need_auth":false,"need_login_tip":false,"code":"91000000","status":"200"}}}