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Minor metals market awaits fallout from Guangxi pollution scandal
February 03, 2012 - 09:08 GMT
Location:
Shanghai
KEYWORDS:
cadmium
,
China
,
pollution
,
Guangxi
The consequences for the metals market of a major pollution incident in China’s Guangxi province are likely to be felt next week, when business fully restarts after the Chinese New Year holiday, market participants said.
A leak of cadmium into the Longjiang River in northwestern Guangxi threatened water supplies to millions of people, sparking a major health alert and a government inspection of metals producers in the Hechi region, where the spill occurred.
The effects on minor metals have so far been mixed this week.
Antimony prices rose because the metal is already in short supply. But indium prices have been steady and cadmium prices have even fallen, countering immediate expectations of a boost from the pollution incident.
“Obviously this is bad for the cadmium producers because it’s a big spill that could affect millions of people [...] but demand for low-cost batteries isn’t going to go away,” one market participant said.
But the general picture is clouded by two factors. Firstly, many smaller metals producers were already...
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Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.
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