China to auction Fanya bismuth stocks

China's Yunnan provincial government on 22 November will auction all the stocks of bismuth metal that were held on the bankrupt Fanya metal exchange.

A total of 19,228.5t of bismuth metal, which is about two years' worth of global supply, will be auctioned at a starting price of 606mn yuan, excluding 13pc valued-added tax (VAT). This equates to about Yn31,516/t, excluding VAT, compared with the Argus domestic price of Yn41,750/t, including VAT, or Yn36,947/t, excluding VAT, a discount of just less than 15pc.

The auction will start at 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on 22 November and end at 10:00 on 23 November.

The bismuth stocks are stored in Hunan Bismuth's Chenzhou warehouse and Shanghai Feiping Logistics' Guixi Warehouse. Bismuth is the last metal stocked on the Fanya exchange to be auctioned.

Previous auctions for dysprosium oxide, terbium oxide, antimony, tungsten, cobalt, gallium, germanium, selenium and tellurium all were successful.

The first auction for 35t of indium out of total stocks of 3,607t, about four years' worth of global production, in January failed to find a buyer. The same amount was offered again at an auction in April and was bought by a state-controlled entity not previously involved in the indium market. No information is available on future auctions of indium.