News Article
Indium headed for prices at over $1,000 per kilo
The report, “Chinese Indium Strategies: Threats and Opportunities for Displays, Photovoltaics and Electronics,” indicates that high indium prices may force the conservative display industry to shift to ITO alternatives, especially those using nanomaterials.
Industry analyst firm NanoMarkets has just released a new report that examines the impact on the electronics and related materials industries of recent Chinese policies to restrict the export of indium.
This activity has recently been formalised in a new Chinese five-year plan, which is designed to stimulate domestic Chinese high-tech industries. NanoMarkets claims that this move by the Chinese government will have significant negative implications for several classes of electronics products but also serve as a catalyst for growth in companies in the extraction and electronic materials industries.
The report, “Chinese Indium Strategies: Threats and Opportunities for Displays, Photovoltaics and Electronics,” indicates that high indium prices may force the conservative display industry to shift to ITO alternatives, especially those using nanomaterials.
NanoMarkets also believes that indium is headed for prices at over $1,000 per kilo and higher prices have been suggested in the Chinese press; as much as $3,000 per kilo.
Japanese indium users, who currently use 70 % of China’s indium production, may find themselves without sufficient indium within a year. As a result, NanoMarkets expects firms in countries that have not been large suppliers of indium to rush into the market. This includes firms in Australia, Canada, Laos and Peru, among others.
For the first time, there will be significant amounts indium extraction from sources other than zinc mines; sources such as tin and tungsten mining. Chinese indium policy seems certain to incentivize new sources outside of China to produce indium either through primary extraction methods or through recycling/reclamation.
A sharp rise in the indium price will harm the resurgent CIGS PV industry but in turn will open the door for CdTe and c-Si PV which will become for more price competitive. In addition, new classes of absorber materials (zinc or tin) might emerge that are CIGS-like but don’t actually use indium.
China is the world’s largest supplier of indium by far. As such its policies affect the markets for all indium related electronic materials. In this report, NanoMarkets discusses the impact and opportunities of these policy shifts in the areas of displays, lighting, photovoltaics and compound semiconductor chips.
The report examines in depth evolving Chinese indium policy both in economic and political terms and explains how it will create new opportunities for both the extraction industry and the advanced materials industry worldwide. In particular, it looks at the impact on markets for novel transparent conductors and compound semiconductors.
