China, which typically exports indium to Japan, is now looking to buy from its neighbor as prices have been low in Japan for a while on falling domestic demand.
Chinese buyers bid $510-520/kg on a delivered basis to Hong Kong for up to 300 kg of 99.995%-grade Japanese indium, market participants said Wednesday. Domestic prices in China have been much higher, rising to almost $600/kg.
Three Chinese companies, which include indium producers, are seeking to buy as Japanese companies are expected to drop prices further in a bid to cut inventories before the end of the current financial year on March 31, trader sources said.
But it is still limited interest as Chinese buyers are only reaching out to Japanese companies that they usually sell to, and seeking only lots of 200-300 kg, they added.
Last week, Chinese buyers expressed an interest in 99.995%-grade ingot less than $500/kg, but this week, two buyers offered firm bids of $510-520/kg on a delivered basis to Hong Kong, Chinese and Japanese traders said.
A Japanese company was said to be looking at cutting its stocks by 1 mt, Tokyo-based traders said.
Meanwhile, a domestic supplier, which was asked to delay deliveries to a customer from March to April, was also looking to offload a substantial but undisclosed volume, they added.
Platts assessed spot imported indium ingot of minimum 99.99% grade at $520-530/kg CIF Japan on Tuesday, unchanged since December 20 last year, reflecting the lack of buying interest.
Two Chinese producer sources said that local buyers were currently paying Yuan 3,650 ($580)/kg for 99.995% ingot, adding that deals at even $600/kg were likely.
Domestic indium prices have been rising in China because of a shortage of crude indium following a toxic cadmium spill in Guangxi province last month. After cadmium from an industrial plant contaminated the Liujiang river, the government forced some metal production plants to halt output after the Lunar New Year holidays.
The affected plants included a 99% crude indium unit operated by state-owned non-ferrous metals producer Shenzhen Zhongjin Jingnan Nonfemet. Crude indium is the feedstock for refined indium.
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