June Ferrochrome Market Overview: Benchmark Prices Fall Hard
Our June chrome market report details how the downward trend culminated in a significant drop in the ferrochrome benchmark price to 104c/lb from 120c/lb in the second quarter. The Chinese benchmark price is currently at 74-75c/lb for the third quarter from the previous 76-77c/lb. The market was definitely impacted by the depreciation of the Yuan […]
Higher nickel prices offers limited support to chrome and ferrochrome markets
Rising nickel prices, coupled with a slight overreaction to the 30 million tonnes of Vale iron ore being removed from the market in March has offered support to steel and stainless steel prices. However, this is unlikely to have any meaningful impact further upstream on chrome and ferrochrome which continues to be impacted by overproduction. […]
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 […]
Help Chrome has Fallen off a Cliff
Presented to members of the SAIMM in June 2017. This video presentation highlights the volatility of the chrome market, paying close attention to the inventory levels and stocks at ports. Download Presentation
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 […]
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. […]