Chinese silicon metal prices for 5-5-3, 5-5-3 oxygen-blown, 4-4-1 and 3-3-0-3 moved down further from RMB10,700-10,900/t (USD1,726-1,758/t), RMB11,150-11,350/t (USD1,798-1,831/t), RMB11,600-11,800/t (USD1,781-1,903/t), and RMB12,400-12,600/t (USD2,000-2,032/t) in ports respectively late last week to RMB10,500-10,700/t (USD1,694-1,726/t), RMB11,100-11,300/t (USD1,790-1,823/t), RMB11,500-11,700/t (USD1,855-1,887/t) and RMB12,300-12,500/t (USD1,984-2,016/t) in ports respectively early this week, and the market was still slow on the weak demand.

A silicon metal producer in Sichuan told Asian Metal that they sold 100t each of 4-4-1 and 3-3-0-3 at RMB11,300/t (USD1,823/t) and RMB12,000/t (USD1,935/t) ex works respectively to aluminum alloy producers in Shandong on Tuesday, down further against the prices of RMB11,500/t (USD1,855/t) and RMB12,300/t (USD1,984/t) ex works respectively in late June.The smelter is running at full capacity of 1,400tpm currently and has a stock of 300t in hand.

“Our power price is around RMB0.27/kwh (4.35cent/kwh), relatively competitive in Southern China, but even we could gain little profit on the current market price. The demand remain weak and the market trading is usually thin in July and August, so the price is likely to decrease further, but will not drop much, maybe around RMB100-200/t (USD16-32/t),” said the producer.

A silicon metal producer in Northern China, with an output of around 300tpm, reported that they sold one truckload of 4-4-1 at RMB11,700/t (USD1,887/t) delivered on Monday, down by RMB100/t (USD16/t) further against that of their last deal of one truckload in last week. They now have 40t of 4-1-1 and 20t of 3-3-0-3 in hand and have not received any inquiries yet this week. They lower the target prices for 4-1-1 and 3-3-0-3 by RMB100/t (USD16/t) further to RMB12,400/t (USD2,000/t) and RMB12,300/t (USD1,984/t) delivered respectively.

The smelter stopped production last week due to the sluggish market. “The market is bad now and it seems that it will remain slow in the near future, so we choose to stop production. It takes around 40 days for the maintenance and whether we will resume production or not after that depends on the market trend at the time,” said the producer.