- High smelting costs weigh on operations
- North west region records sharpest output cuts
Mysteel Global: China’s ferro silicon production fell further during January, with the total tonnage declining for the third consecutive month by 17,110 tonnes or 3.8% from December to 437,135 tonnes, the lowest since July 2025, according to Mysteel’s monthly survey among the 136 Chinese smelters under its regular tracking.
The sampled smelters host 90% of China’s ferro silicon smelting capacity. Last month, daily production among the sampled ferro silicon smelters averaged 14,101 tonnes/day, sliding by 551 t/d from the December average, the survey results showed.
China’s ferro silicon output in major production bases (Unit: All in tonnes)
Source: Mysteel
Last month, ferro silicon output in all major production bases declined by varying degrees, with that in Northwest China’s Qinghai seeing the sharpest on-month fall of 19.4%, followed by the 13.2% plunge in Northwest China’s Gansu province. The survey findings showed that ferro silicon smelters in the two production bases kept their run rates low to lessen the impact of high smelting costs.
Although prices of semi-coke declined in January, easing the market pressure from the cost side to some extent, many domestic ferro silicon smelters continued to operate at a loss, which dampened their enthusiasm for increasing output, Mysteel Global noted.
At the end of January, Mysteel assessed the price of small granularity semi-coke in Northwest China’s Shaanxi at RMB 745/tonne ($107/t) including the 13% VAT, lower by RMB 15/t ($2/t) from one month earlier.
However, spot prices of ferro silicon in China remained firm overall in January as market sentiment kept positive, with the price of 75% ferro silicon under Mysteel’s assessment averaging RMB 5,384/t including the 13% VAT last month, higher by RMB 61/t ($9/t) from one month earlier.
Inventories held by the ferro silicon smelters increased slightly in January, with the total tonnage among the 60 independent smelters under Mysteel’s tracking reaching 67,900 tonnes by month’s end, higher by 3,540 tonnes or 5.5% from end-December. These smelters represent about 80% of China’s total ferro silicon smelting capacity.
For this month, the domestic ferro silicon market is likely to see limited changes in both supply and demand, as business activity is expected to quieten with the approaching Chinese New Year holiday in mid-February. Prices are also expected to be rangebound amid the quiet market, Mysteel Global learned.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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