** There is still room for price rises at historically high prices

** The price has reached 32,000 yuan/ton, almost doubled in five months. Xu Liguo, Secretary-General of the Bromination Industry Association of Changyi City, Shandong Province, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that prices in China have reached a historical peak and will continue to rise in the future.

At present, about 70%-80% of the ** is used for flame retardant manufacturing. The price increase that began in the second half of last year has severely hit downstream companies and caused some manufacturers of flame retardants to experience cost inversion. The 2010 annual report of Jacques Technology (002409) showed that the company's annual revenue increased by 56.3% year-on-year, but its net profit decreased by 4.6% year-on-year, of which the flame-retardant gross margin decreased by 5.3%.

The data show that from 2008 to 2010, China's output fell by approximately 10,000 tons year-on-year, and in 2010 it produced 150,000 tons. 80% of domestic ** are produced in Shandong Province. Xu Liguo said that since bromine is a non-renewable resource, the production of ** production companies in the world, such as Israel’s Dead Sea Group and Albemarle Corporation in the United States, are all in a downward trend.

"In other words, the era of low prices is no longer!" Xu Liguo said that in the future there will still be room for price increases, but the pace may slow down. At present, the association is trying to control the upward trend of prices, improve the development rate of exploitation, and reduce the waste after crude extraction.