High Carbon Ferro Chrome prices unchanged amid slow demand, with most participants expecting a stable market.
The Ferro Chrome producers in India were hoping for a rebound in Chinese demand, once the New Year holidays ended. Albeit the Chinese buyers have returned to the market, weak stainless steel market in China and sufficient inventory with the Stainless steel mills, stemmed the need of procuring Ferro Chrome – leaving its price flat.
Steelmint assessed from various sources that the Chinese buyers are negotiating for lower Ferro Chrome offers.
Currently, the offers for export are stable at 102-104 cents/lb CNF China. In line with offers to China, buyers from Japan and South Korea are also looking for a parity with Chinese offers, and are not ready to accept anything higher then the extra freight tariff. Indian HC Ferro Chrome offers are in the range of 109-111 cents/lb CNF Japan and 108-110 cents/lb CNF South Korea. However, there continues to be an absence of reported bids or deals.
Earlier, various Chinese Stainless Steel firms have lowered their HC Ferro Chrome purchasing price by RMB 800-900/MT for Feb’17. Market participants expect the Chinese Stainless steel mills to either roll over or further cut their purchase price for March.
This scenario has also been noticed in domestic market as well. Ferro Chrome transactions were generally sparse in the market with prices having settled at last week’s level. The mainstream price of HC Ferro Chrome 60% min. is around INR 90,000 /MT (Ex-Works Odisha). However, few producers taking stock of the sporadic buying activity are willing to accept lower prices.
The future outlook for Ferro Chrome seems to remain stable as it is unlikely for it to regain the high prices which has been witnessed in the previous quarter.
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