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The European ferrochrome benchmark price for the third quarter was settled at 98c/lb compared to 82c/lb in the second quarter. The main reason for the increase is that South Africa appears to be short on material available for the spot market, which has resulted in higher spot market transactions in recent months.

That being said, we are starting to see a pull back from China. The official bid price is around 71c/lb, CIF, China main ports, though from the second week of July we expect bid prices to decline by as much as 4c/lb.

Core Consultants expects that these prices could trend even higher in the fourth quarter on the back of restocking activity from China. It is expected that China will continue to purchase both ore and ferrochrome until the Chinese New Year in February. Consequently, we are finding that the major ferrochrome producers, who have stocks of ore and ferrochrome in South Africa are holding back supply as a negotiation tool. We believe that this strategy will bear fruits in the short term.

The Core Consultants’ Quarterly Report can be ordered online by clicking on this link

 

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Lara Smith
Lara is the CEO and founder of Core Consultants. She has been an analyst for over thirteen years and has focused on commodity markets for just over a decade. She began her career as a buy-side analyst at Foord Asset Management in Cape Town, before taking a Head of Research role at a mining corporate finance and investment firm.
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