May 24 2005
Research and Markets has announced the addition of The Economics of Tantalum to their offering.
Over the past few decades, the tantalum market has been characterised by long periods of stability, punctuated by sharp price rises created by strong global demand and fears, usually unfounded of impending raw material shortages. Stability was reinforced when Cabot and Stark, the world's largest tantalum processors, entered into long-term, fixed price supply contracts with Australia's Sons of Gwalia, the leading mine producer. Those arrangements helped keep prices in the open market fairly constant, even when global demand for tantalum entered into a period of strong growth during the second half of the 1990s, in response to rapid expansion of the demand for consumer electronics, and mobile telephones in particular.
Booming sales of mobile telephones between 1998 and 2000 resulted in supplies of electronics components, including tantalum capacitors, becoming tight and prices increased. Demand for tantalum raw materials also increased, rising to levels that could not be met by the traditional suppliers. Spot tantalum prices rose to US$40-50/lb by mid-2000 and by December had reached US$240/lb. In early 2001, a number of capacitor manufacturers, made nervous by spiralling tantalum prices and the threat of raw material shortages entered into long-term, fixed-price contracts with processors. However, instead of continuing to grow, the mobile telephone market and aerospace industry turned downward in 2001. Tantalum prices started to fall sharply. By the end of the year prices were back to pre-boom levels, and in early 2005, spot prices remain at below US$40/lb.
"The evolution of Tantalum" analyses the key trends, issues and developments in the market. It provides a clear insight into all areas of the industry and an authoritative analysis of the prospects for the future.
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c17819