let's take a comprehensive and in-depth look at the global and Chinese market supply and demand for antimony products.
Antimony is an important strategic metal with unique physical and chemical properties, such as hardness and brittleness, and its ability to shrink when heated and expand when cooled. It's known as the "industrial MSG." It's primarily used in flame retardants, lead-acid batteries, polyester catalysts, semiconductors, and military applications.
1. Supply-Side Analysis (Supply)
In 2023, China will continue to hold the largest antimony reserves globally. According to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), China's antimony ore reserves in 2023 will reach 640,000 tons, accounting for 29.48% of the global total, giving it a significant resource advantage. Russia, Bolivia, and Australia are also major global antimony reserves. Russia's antimony ore reserves are 350,000 tons, accounting for 16.12% of the global total.
Key Supply Challenges:
Resource Depletion and Declining Grades: After hundreds of years of mining, China's established mines, such as tin mines, have gradually become depleted, resulting in a significant decline in ore grades and rising mining costs.
Tightening Environmental Protection Policies: The Chinese government has implemented extremely strict environmental protection and safety policies for the mining industry, particularly for the mining and smelting of toxic and hazardous metals such as antimony. Many small, unregulated mines have been shut down for rectification, leading to a downward trend in domestic primary antimony production.
Geopolitics and Trade Barriers: Western countries' concerns about the security of critical mineral supply chains have led them to seek sources outside of China, but new projects require long development cycles and large investments.
Supply Chain Fragility: The global supply chain is overly dependent on a few producing countries. Policy changes or production disruptions in any one country (such as sanctions on Russia) can have a significant impact on global supply.
2. Demand Analysis (Demand)
The demand structure is relatively stable, but new growth areas are emerging.
Traditional Demand Areas (Stable):
Flame Retardants: This is the largest consumer of antimony, accounting for approximately 55% of global consumption. Antimony trioxide, as a synergist, is widely used with halogenated flame retardants in plastics, rubber, textiles, and electronic product casings. This demand is closely linked to the development of the global construction, automotive, and electronics manufacturing industries, and is experiencing steady growth. Lead-acid batteries: These batteries account for approximately 20% of total consumption. Antimony is used in lead-antimony alloy grids, improving battery hardness and charge-discharge performance. Despite competition from lithium-ion batteries, they maintain a solid market in automotive starter batteries (SLI), electric bicycles, and industrial energy storage.
Polyester catalysts: Antimony glycolate is a key catalyst in the production of polyester fiber (PET), with demand tied to the textile and packaging bottle industries.
Emerging Demand Areas (High-Growth):
Photovoltaic glass clarifiers: Sodium pyroantimonate is crucial as a clarifier in the photovoltaic glass melting process, removing bubbles from the molten glass. With the explosive growth of global photovoltaic installations, this demand segment has become the most significant growth driver, rapidly increasing to approximately 20% of the total.
Lithium-ion batteries: As an additive to the anode material (silicon-carbon anode), antimony can significantly improve the battery's cycle and rate performance. Although currently used in small quantities, antimony holds enormous potential for the future and is a highly sought-after concept in the capital market. Military and Aerospace: Used in the manufacture of ammunition, armor-piercing rounds, infrared detection equipment, and nuclear reactor coolants, it represents rigid demand.
