Pelagic Resources now a top world trader
When trading firm Pelagic Resources was established about six years ago, the world was a different place. It was way before Covid-19 would cause a health crisis and severely disrupt supply chains across the world.
Trump’s Tariffs Affect Chrome Markets
In our latest Ferrochrome Monthly, Core Consultants acknowledged a vast improvement in the European ferrochrome benchmark price. Prices soared from $1.18/lb in the first quarter to a whopping $1.42/lb in the second quarter 2018. This represents a rise of 20.3% q.o.q and was entirely unanticipated on our part. However, rising costs for global ferrochrome producers, […]
Hard Times for Chrome Traders in October
October was characterised by an increase in both purchases and production owing to a number of positive factors including, higher benchmark price which rose 19c/lb in the fourth quarter, a resurgence in Chinese ferrochrome production, higher surcharges by stainless steel mills and the end of winter tariffs which saw the production rates in South Africa […]
Chrome And Ferrochrome Output Increases Impacting Prices
On the 19th of March, we published our Chrome & Ferrochrome Monthly Report. We note that that the benchmark for the second quarter has been set 11c/lb lower, but this did not come as a surprise, nor should it be cause for alarm. From our perspective, the lower settlement was inevitable. Chrome ore stocks at Chinese […]
Is Manganese at the Point Of No Return?
In the first week of March, we released our Manganese Monthly publication. In the issue prior to this release, we proffered that manganese stocks couldn’t possibly climb any higher. We were wrong! Manganese stocks in the first week of March, climbed from a massive volume of 2.45m tonnes to even more ridiculous levels of 3.5m […]
Chrome Market: Difficult to Gauge Direction
Since September 2016, chrome ore prices have had a good run. This came on the back of Turkey chrome ore producers halting production and refusing to supply China and bankruptcies in South Africa, resulting in limited output. The net effect was that chrome prices nearly doubled and have remained elevated. For example, in South Africa […]
Ferrochrome Waking Up From An Eight Year Nightmare
Merafe published its European ferrochrome benchmark for 1Q17 at $1.65/lb, up from $1.10 in the fourth quarter. These higher prices loook like they’ve been accepted by consumers, in particular, the Chinese stainless steelmakers. At a price of $1.65, this will translate to around $1.50/lb, CIF, which means there is still $0.15/lb on the upperside. The […]
Understanding The Portnex/Zimasco Relationship
Unfortunately when it comes to understanding what is going on in Zimbabwe, discerning what is fact is always challenging. We have therefore sought the correct story from Zimasco and feel that it is necessary to share this with our clients so as to better understand the market situation. As part of its strategy to sweat […]
Ferrochrome Second Quarter In Deficit
2Q16 was characterised by an extremely tight market. Many producers had shut down operations globally, including four furnaces in South Africa going bankrupt over the past 8 months. This resulted in the remaining producers selling only on a contractual basis, leaving very minimal stocks available to the spot market for both chrome ore and ferrochrome. […]
Ferrochrome Benchmark Prices Settled up 16c/lb
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, […]