China’s total export volumes of fluorspar, with
CaF2 content of more than 97%, in the first half of 2019 came
to 97,722 tonnes, down by 3.8% from 101,626 tonnes in the
corresponding period of 2018, according to official Chinese
data.
The export value of lithium carbonate was up by 4% to $39.81
million from $38.28 million in January-June 2018. The average
price increased by 7.9% year on year to $407 per tonne on
higher agreed prices, influenced by rises in the domestic price
in China caused by tight supply.
The five leading destinations for exports were India (34,848
tonnes), Japan (19,957 tonnes), the Netherlands (16,574
tonnes), the United States (9,187 tonnes) and Germany (5,381
tonnes).
China’s fluorspar acidspar market mostly held
firm in the first half of 2019, also due to tight supply,
caused by reduced production and strict environmental
inspections.
Prices have shown signs of softness in the past week, under
pressure from falling downstream prices for hydrogen fluoride
(HF) and a sluggish market for refrigerants.
Fastmarkets’ latest price assessment for fluorspar, acidspar, 97% CaF2, wet filtercake,
fob China, was $460-520 per tonne on August 1.
China imported only 31,948 tonnes of fluorspar (CaF2
>97%) in the first half of 2019, down by 50% year-on-year
from 63,916 tonnes in January-June 2018. The average value of
material imported was $273 per tonne, down by 20.9% year on
year. Imports came mostly from Burma (16,327 tonnes) and
Mongolia (7,527 tonnes).
Low-purity fluorspar
Total export volumes of fluorspar with CaF2 content less
than, or equal to, 97% in the first half of 2019 came to 91,907
tonnes, down by 11.5% year on year from 102,507 tonnes in the
corresponding period of 2018. The average value of material
exported was $325 per tonne, up by 18.2%.
The five principal destinations for this material in
January-June were India (31,971 tonnes), South Korea (17,020
tonnes), Japan (12,620 tonnes), Indonesia (10,870 tonnes) and
Taiwan (8,820 tonnes).
Strong demand for downstream steel products and construction
materials in both the domestic and export markets gave
continuing support to the volumes and prices of fluorspar
exports.
China’s imports of fluorspar (CaF2 ≤97%) in
the first half of 2019 increased by 42.7% year on year to
197,082 tonnes, from 138,150 tonnes in January-June 2018. The
average value of material imported was $163 per tonne, flat
year on year.
Imports came mostly from Mongolia (173,831 tonnes), Burma
(8,190 tonnes) and South Africa (4,913 tonnes).
Downstream markets
In downstream markets, exports of aluminum fluoride in
January-June 2019 came to 46,118 tonnes, up by 8.5% year on
year from 42,502 tonnes. The average value was $1,563 per
tonne, and this was down by 7.3% year on year.
The major destinations for these exports were India (9,397
tonnes), Russia (6,637 tonnes), Malaysia (4,664 tonnes),
Australia (4,557 tonnes), and New Zealand (4,156 tonnes).
In the hydrogen fluoride (HF) sector, exports came to
121,776 tonnes in the first half of 2019, down by 6.2% from
129,879 tonnes a year ago, and the average value also fell by
12.7% year on year to $1,642 per tonne.
The main destinations were Japan (55,101 tonnes), South
Korea (25,100 tonnes), Taiwan (16,592 tonnes), Malaysia (6,329
tonnes) and Thailand (4,076 tonnes).