Thursday September 3, 11:30 AM
UPDATE 1-China's Hunan Nonferrous bought 5,000 tonnes antimony

By Rujun Shen and Tom Miles BEIJING, Sept 3 (Reuters) - China's Hunan Nonferrous Metals has bought 5,000 tonnes of refined antimony and antimony oxide, the head of its subsidiary Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Co, China's top antimony smelter, said on Thursday.

'That increased the supply tightness and helped push antimony prices back up,' Yang Lingyi told a conference in Beijing. 'Antimony prices have returned to levels seen before the financial crisis.' Prices of antimony dipped more than one third from a peak in August 2008 to just above $4,000 a tonne earlier this year but have since recovered to nearly $6,000. 'Prices are likely to trade in high levels,' said Yang, 'If there is a rapid recovery of consumption in Europe and U.S., the price may go higher.' Yang expected China's antimony exports to gradually increase with the economic recovery. In the first half of the year, China's antimony exports tumbled 48 percent from a year earlier. But fast growing domestic demand, spurred by the government's stimulus plan, made up for the falling export demand, he said. Antimony, used in fireproof paint and plastics, has benefited from fast growth in automobile and home appliances industries in China this year. China's antimony oxide consumption is expected to be 38,000 tonnes this year, up from just over 30,000 in 2008, he said. Supply is expected to remain tight due to reduced concentrate supply from mines in and outside China. In addition, the government has cracked down on small antimony smelters around Hsikwangshan after a pollution scandal at the end of last year. 'Antimony output from those small smelters in the first half of the year fell at least 50 percent from a year earlier,' said Yang. (Additional reporting by Coco Li; Editing by Ben Tan)