Chinese Molybdenum Market - November 24, 2023

This week, the overall attention in the Chinese molybdenum market is relatively high. With limited space for price reduction in molybdenum raw materials and the increase in steel procurement prices, the quotations from intermediate smelting enterprises are relatively chaotic but show an overall downward trend. 

According to information from Chinatungsten Online, this week, the prices of molybdenum concentrate and molybdenum oxide first decreased and then stabilized. However, they still fell below the thresholds of CNY 2,900/ton Mo and CNY 3,000/ton Mo, respectively. As of now, the total quantity of molybdenum iron tendered in November is approximately 8,900 tons, with current ferro molybdenum prices ranging from CNY 185,000/ton to CNY 195,000/ton.

According to Chinatungsten Online statistics, compared to last week, the current prices are as follows: ferro molybdenum prices have decreased by approximately CNY 6,000/ton Mo, a decrease of 3.03%; molybdenum concentrate prices have decreased by approximately CNY 110/ton Mo, a decrease of 3.69%; sodium molybdate prices have decreased by approximately CNY 5,000/ton, a decrease of 3.50%; ammonium heptamolybdate prices have decreased by approximately CNY 11,000/ton, a decrease of 5.31%; molybdenum powder prices have decreased by approximately CNY 16/kg, a decrease of 3.94%; molybdenum oxide prices have decreased by approximately CNY 110/ton, a decrease of 3.57%. 

It can be seen that the decline in molybdenum raw material prices this week is smaller than the decline in molybdenum chemical product prices, mainly due to the larger price reduction in molybdenum raw materials last week and the lag in price reduction by molybdenum chemical companies.

On November 23, 2023, steel companies bidding for molybdenum iron included Dalian Special Steel, Fushun Special Steel, Jiangsu Yonggang, and Hengyang Hualing Steel Pipe. Among them, Dalian Special Steel bid for 30 tons at a price of CNY 188,000/ton; Fushun Special Steel bid for 60 tons at a price of CNY 188,000/ton; Jiangsu Yonggang bid for 30 tons at a price of CNY 184,000/ton. The main reasons for the steel companies' price pressure are the rapid rise in molybdenum prices in the short term, the poor performance of the domestic and international molybdenum markets in the near term, and the continuous decline in steel prices. Currently, the prices of 304/2B stainless steel coils and 316/2B stainless steel coils have each dropped by around CNY 140/ton and CNY 100/ton, respectively.

In terms of news, according to data from the China Iron and Steel Association, as of mid-November 2023, social inventories of 5 major steel varieties in 21 cities amounted to 7.73 million tons, a 2.4% decrease from the previous month, a 2.8% increase from the beginning of the year, and a 2.9% increase from the same period last year. Regionally, South China saw the largest inventory reduction at 2.4%, followed by Southwest at 3.4%, East China at 1.4%, Northeast at 5.4% (the largest reduction), Northwest at 4.1%, North China at 2.6%, and Central China at 1.1%.

Prices of molybdenum products on November 24, 2023

Picture of molybdenum wires 

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