Muted Downstream Demand to Weaken Fluorspar Market in China

Shanghai, China: As per the ChemAnalyst Database, the price of Fluorspar has been witnessed following a stable trend this week. The primary influencing factor is the sluggish demand from the downstream Hydrofluoric Acid and refrigerant market.

Initially, the FOB price discussions of Fluorspar have raised, showcasing a hike of 1.2% during the first week of June across the domestic market of China. The substantial rise in electric vehicles' popularity and demand for Lithium-ion batteries has significantly driven the market growth for Fluorspar. In Mexico, Korua Global, the largest Fluorspar producer, shut down its Las Cuevas mine amidst geological safety concerns in the first of mid-quarter in 2022. This turnaround has suppressed the overseas imports for China, making the globe bank on Chinese reserves for their Fluorspar requirements.

Recently, a leading investment firm in China, Jinshi Resources, has announced to install and build Fluorine Chemical Engineering Project to support and utilize Fluorspar resources present in Bayan Obo, a mining town in Mongolia. Meanwhile, the mining activities in China are closely monitored by Environment Protection agencies to avoid any kind of resource damage. As a result, the supply of Fluorspar in the domestic and global market is constrained.

On the other hand, the price trend of downstream Hydrofluoric acid is stabilized in the domestic market as sufficient inventories are available to meet the demand from the end-user industries. Moreover, the downstream refrigerant demand is also crippling due to weak buying sentiments among the consumers. Rigorous lockdown and Zero Covid approach for the last two months have badly impacted the nation's economy. However, with the ease of lockdown and resumption of production in manufacturing facilities, the trade activities in China were gradually coming on track.

Thus, as per ChemAnalyst, the offers for Fluorspar have been anticipated to follow a sturdy trend or may decline in the forthcoming weeks. The prices are more likely to behave following the declining demand from its downstream hydrofluoric acid and refrigerant market.