In April, the domestic ferrosilicon market continued its weak trend, with Futures fluctuating and falling below a new low for the year. The opening price of the 2306 main contract was 7790, the highest price was 7796, the lowest price was 7274, the closing price was 7314, the settlement price was 7312, the trading volume was 1935344, and the position was 152450, a decrease of 5.77%.

On the demand side, the tender volume of 75-B ferrosilicon of HBIS Group in April was 2482 tons, an increase of 899 tons compared to the previous month; the tender price was 7880 CNY/T, a decrease of 270 CNY/T compared to the previous month. There were continuous steel mills stopping or reducing production, and the transaction performance was not good enough. The quotation for 72# ferrosilicon slightly declined; The quotation of 75# ferrosilicon once climbed to around 8300-8500 CNY/T driven by the soaring downstream metal magnesium prices, but then the price of metal magnesium rationally fell, resulting in the price of 75# ferrosilicon was slightly lowered; At the same time, overseas demand has also performed poorly compared to the same period last year. According to data of China Customs, in March 2023, China exported 34665.892 tons of ferrosilicon (containing by weight more than 55% of silicon), a year-on-year decrease of 41593.527 tons, a decrease of 54.54%; from January to March 2023, China exported 110549.917 tons of ferrosilicon (containing by weight more than 55% of silicon), a year-on-year decrease of 78462.19 tons or 41.51%.

On the cost side, Qinghai released a notice on the 2023 peak summer electricity management plan, which implemented a rotating stop and rest system for ferroalloy and other enterprises according to the corresponding level of the plan, but the actual impact was not reflected yet; The semi-coke market was currently operating steadily, and the price of small and medium-sized materials was around 1300 CNY/T.

On the supply side, considering further profit compression, manufacturers were maintaining a low load production status. According to Ferro-alloy.com, some manufacturers' inventory has been released to some extent, but it was not matched by weak downstream demand. A local steel mill in Hunan priced 7640 CNY/T for 75-B ferrosilicon tender in May, which made market confidence generally poor, and many believed that the market would still be dominated by a weak state trend in the short term.