China’s Antimony Export Restrictions Reshape Global Supply and Prices

Antimony

China’s antimony export restrictions tightened in June, choking overseas flows and straining supply chains. As China’s antimony export restrictions intensified, shipments of metal and trioxide collapsed year on year. The policy shift underscores Beijing’s firmer control over strategic critical minerals.

Exports collapse across products

Antimony metal exports plunged to 20t in June, all to South Korea. A year earlier, flows reached 153t. First-half exports fell 84pc to 267t from 1,720t last year. Meanwhile, antimony trioxide exports slid to 87t in June from 3,228t a year earlier. June volumes went to Egypt, Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Policy crackdown sustains price strength

China suspended gallium, germanium, and antimony exports to the US in December 2024. The US had taken one-third of China’s trioxide exports in 2023. Beijing then vowed a continued crackdown on smuggling of strategic minerals on 19 July. As a result, European prices held at multi-year highs in Rotterdam. Regulus grade II metal and trioxide grade traded around $58,000-60,000/t duty unpaid. The geographic shift in stocks further tightened access for downstream users.

The supply squeeze reflects new compliance hurdles and tougher licensing reviews. Traders report slower approvals and narrower eligible end uses. Flame retardant and alloy producers face longer lead times and higher working capital. Therefore, buyers diversify toward non-Chinese feedstock where possible. Still, China’s antimony export restrictions remain the defining market driver.

The Metalnomist Commentary

Tighter Chinese controls have reset the antimony trade’s risk premium. Prices should stay elevated while enforcement curbs leakages and re-exports. Watch European restocking patterns and US substitution to gauge demand resilience.