Media reported last week that antimony smelters in Lengshuijiang city, Hunan province, had stopped production for environmental checks, although production at the top antimony producer, Hsikwangshan in that city, remained normal.

Li Li, executive director and general manager of Hunan Nonferrous Metals Corp Ltd told Reuters on Wednesday that the firm's antimony unit, Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star Co, maintained normal production and had no plan to close for environmental checks.

"It does not matter that Hsikwangshan is still producing because closed smelters account for a larger slice of the local potential production than it," said a trader in Shanghai.

"People are not keen to sell spot antimony now. Prices should be up," he said, of his prediction of prices next week.

The trader said his firm was offering small amount of spot antimony near 100,000 yuan per tonne on Friday.

Spot antimony traded at about 93,000 yuan a tonne last Friday in Shanghai.