Ta appears to have reached its limits in Europe

According to sources, tantalite prices, mainstream around USD47/lb might have reached its limit this month, if not for this quarter, but the relatively stable prices of columbine now in the range of USD13.00-14.00/lb has kept the former from a free-fall trend.

A European trader disclosed that tantalite price had decreased slightly due to high availability. "For those who sold at USD46.0/lb before can only sell at USD45.0/lb now." He thinks the price had gone down by USD1.0/lb in the last two weeks.

Two months ago, when price was increasing, some people foresaw higher prices and they stocked material, and now there are more supplies than demands. The source holds that price of tantalite could fall further. "If not for the increasing columbine price, tantalite price would fall faster."

According to another source, columbine price is selling at USD13.0-14.0/lb CIF China at the moment, and it remains strong that there is enough demand so the suppliers are not worried about selling their products.

"The consumer of columbine could buy at higher price and pass the cost to end-users because the varying applications. However, tantalite market is very limited, and it is difficult to pass the high price to downstream products," the trader concluded.