Minor Metal Market Update - October 2012

Strategic purchasing and materials being held from the market have pushed prices for many minor metals higher in recent weeks.

Despite high inventories, tellurium prices rebounded in Q3 after nearly a year of steady decline, in large part due to many high purity refiners refusing new offers.

Germanium prices appear to be stabilizing at the start of Q4 after an unanticipated run-up of nearly 70% since April. The jump in prices spurred buying activity - particularly for germanium dioxide - over the summer months.

Indium prices, meanwhile, have been pushed higher by the Chinese State Reserve Bureau's (SRB) purchases of the metal at above market prices. Purchases by the SRB in the second half of 2012 may end-up accounting for as much as 15% of global production this year.

With large inventories to draw on, whether indium's price gains stick will largely be dependent upon how much purchasing activity is seen in the remaining months of 2012.

High inventories of 99.99% gallium continue to drag on prices for the metal. While offer prices increased slightly in Q3, it may be some time before consumption increases to levels high enough to absorb excess inventories that have built up since new production was brought on-line earlier this year.