Chinese molybdenum concentrate prices fell slightly this week due to a trading slowdown, market sources said.
Molybdenum concentrate was trading at 2,200-2,250 yuan ($322-329) per mtu this week, down from 2,250-2,300 yuan last week.
“Prices increased too fast in the past weeks and caused some traders to speed up their sales to make profits,” a ferromolybdenum producer in Hebei province said.
Many buyers withdrew from the market this week when prices lost ground, he added.
“Now the domestic market has become a buyers’ market as overall concentrate availability is high,” a ferro-molybdenum producer in Huludao, Liaoning province, said.
A miner in Henan province agreed, adding that concentrate prices may face more downward pressure soon.
Weak ferro-molybdenum prices also put pressure on concentrate prices.
Ferro-molybdenum prices fell 3,000 yuan from last week to 148,000-152,000 yuan per
tonne, traders said.
But market participants do not expect domestic prices to fall far as European moly prices remained high.

From MB