Editor:Adam Zhang
The fluorspar market was largely flat against the previous week with Northeast Asia Industrial Mineral Exchange’s market research finding that the majority of prices had rolled over from January 10.
Global fluorspar prices were mostly steady in the week from January 5-11, with Europe seeing a price increase on the low end of the range.
Chinese prices stayed flat this week at $400-420 per tonne, acid-grade spar fob China, the highest price since October 16, 2012, According to Northeast Asia Industrial Mineral Exchange’s data. Prices remain high because of a lack of supply due to the Chinese environmental regulations.
The US has almost ceased to import Chinese fluorspar, a trend that is likely to continue in 2018 with US companies unlikely to purchase a significant amount of Chinese fluorspar while the price remains high, citing no issues with quality, according to one source.
Other smaller fluorspar producers have experienced issues with the silica content in their product, which can be as high as 2%, reducing the quality of the material, which makes Chinese exports unattractive to consumers, according to the Europe-based source.
The spread for acidspar 97% CaF2, Wet Filtercake, cif Rotterdam, Holland, narrowed to $320-350 per tonne, up from $300-350 per tonne a week ago.
"There is no material available at $300, or even close" the same Europe-based source said.
Canada Fluorspar, a mining start-up based in New Found-land, Canada, has reportedly started operations and is "ironing out a few bugs" before reaching the anticipated 200,000 tonnes per year production capacity, according to a source. Delays to the production coming online have not come as a surprise to market participants, who recognize technical difficulties are common with start-up operations.
Once this new supply reaches the market, participants expect the price may adjust, sources told Northeast Asia Industrial Mineral Exchange.