China’s traders of molybdenum oxide have abandonedntheir earlier plans to restock at below $13lb for moly oxide amid a bleak market outlook,nindustry sources said Thursday. The moly oxidenprice has been weakening recently amid thinndemand both from Asia and Europe, with thenPlatts daily dealer oxide assessment dropping ton$13.20-13.40/lb Wednesday from $13.30-13.50lb previously. A Chinese trader who had plannednto restock when moly oxide prices slid below $14lb has yet to act. “With demand weakening andnno signs of possible recovery there is no pointnrestocking or I may end up holding stocks for halfna year or even longer before consumption andnprices rebound,” he said. A second Chinese tradernshared the sentiment. “It is not wise to restocknunder the present circumstances as we have nonidea where the bottom is for the moly oxide price.nWe used to anticipate the lowest price would ben$13/lb early this year, now we have lowered it ton$12/lb, and some are even talking about $11lb,” he said. Early this year, China’s moly oxidensources anticipated moly oxide prices at $13-15lb for 2012. A third Chinese trader warned thatnthe prediction based on last year’s experiencencould turn out to be irrelevant. “What is happeningn[economically] this year is different from last yearn... and therefore [affecting] demand for moly oxide,nso last year’s bottom price of $12.40-12.60/lbnmay have no reference value for 2012,” he said
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