ALGERIAN, SPANISH FIRMS AGREE QUICKSILVER PRICE

  Algerian and Spanish producers which
  together meet 40 pct of the Western market's needs in
  quicksilver have agreed to apply a minimum selling price of 300
  dlrs per unit, the Algerian news agency APS said.
      The agreement was made during a meeting here last week
  between Algeria's Entreprise Nationale des Non-ferreux et
  Substances Utiles (ENOF) and Spain's Almaden to discuss the
  market situation.
      The two firms "took note with regret that prices quoted by
  some specialised publications do not reflect the reality of the
  whole market since they take into account only part of the
  deals made," a statement by ENOF said.
      The result is that the prices quoted are far away from two
  firms' production costs.
      "They have thus decided that their selling price would not
  be linked any more to the prices quoted by these publications
  and that sales would be made at a minimum price of 300 dlrs fob
  per jar, which is close to their production cost," the statement
  said.
      It added that Turkish producers would join in when the two
  firms meet again in Madrid later this month.
      The price of quicksilver on the London Metal Exchange
  hovered around 200 dlrs this week.
  

