APT - slow steady climb....

China's primary tungsten material consumers Xiamen Tungsten and Zhangyuan Tungsten have raised their bid prices for tungsten concentrate and ammonium paratungstate (APT) for the second half of January, in response to higher spot prices.Zhangyuan increased its APT bid price by 1,800 yuan/t ($279/t) to Yn133,000/t for the second half of January from Yn131,200/t in the first half of the month. The firm also raised its bid price for 55pc grade wolframite concentrate to Yn87,000/t from Yn85,800/t over the same period.Xiamen Tungsten on 19 January raised its second-half January bid price for APT to Yn132,500/t, up from Yn130,500/t in the first half of the month.Zhangyuan has an output capacity of 1,500 t/yr for cemented carbide, 10,000 t/yr for APT, 8,000 t/yr for tungsten powder and 6,000 t/yr for tungsten carbide. It is a large consumer of primary tungsten materials, such as APT and tungsten concentrate. The company can meet a third of its tungsten concentrate demand from its six in-house mines.Xiamen Tungsten produces and sells tungsten, molybdenum, rare earths and new energy materials. It operates an integrated tungsten supply chain, from primary mining and smelting to processing and recycling. It produced 23,173t of APT, 8,451t of tungsten powder and 4,175t of cemented carbide in 2019. Xiamen Tungsten also buys APT to feed its powder production.Prices for 88.5pc grade APT were last assessed stable at Yn133,000-135,000/t ex-works on 19 January. The range for 55pc grade wolframite concentrate held flat at Yn87,500-88,500/t ex-works yesterday, with more deals concluded over the past week as some trading firms offloaded stocks to generate cash for year-end accounting purposes.Key consumers' bid prices for the second half of January are lower than spot prices, which are likely to hold stable in the near term as concentrate and APT producers are not keen to destock before the 11-17 February lunar new year holiday. Year-end maintenance at many smelters and power shortages in south China have continued to pressure production and prompt producers to withhold material from sales at lower prices.