[Ferro-Alloys.com]China's domestic high-carbon ferrochrome prices have been declining in 2014 and bottomed in October and November of the year , then the prices began to rise and remained the same in the first quarter of 2015. The latest tender prices from major stainless steel makers failed to rise, on the contrary, Tsingshan Group lowered its tender price in April and cut its purchasing amount, which indicated an increasing pressure for domestic high-carbon ferrochorme prices.

 

First, China's domestic high-carbon ferrochrome production rate is in an uptrend as rainy season is to arrive in South China, and the increasing output of high-carbon ferrochrome will greatly increase the domestic supply. In the meantime, there was large stainless steel maker cut its high-carbon ferrochrome purchasing amount, which indicated an slight decline of domestic demand, adding that the stainless steel prices still search for the bottoms, an glut of high-carbon ferrochrome might appear in a few months.

 

Second, the imported ferrochrome and chrome ore ratio remained high since October 2014. The average monthly imported volume of ferrochrome exceeds 0.19 million tonnes in October 2014-February 2015, a history high level, and the average monthly imported volume of chrome ore is 0.66 million tonnes, a history low level. The global ferrochrome producers, especially in South Africa, put threat to China's ferrochrome industry by their traditional advantages, including cheap chrome ores and large furnaces. And the abolition of import tariff of high-carbon ferrochrome makes things worse.

 

Adding that the South African chrome ore prices remains high, and China's electricity reform have not put into effect entirely for the ferroalloy industry, which can not reduce the production cost, and the ferrochrome prices are still under pressure.

 

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