Downstream alloy prices are picking up partially due to limited availability in the retail market and partially due to low output, import and high operating rate of stainless steel, propping up the demand.
Some special steel mills and carbon steel mills have already pulled up the ferro chrome purchase price before the tenders to be released by the major stainless steel mills. On Aug 31, the retail price of HC ferro chrome rose by RMB 50 ($7.30) to RMB 5,800/t ($ 847.54/t) on HC 50% Cr grade material, further solidifying chrome traders willingness to back the price.
Meanwhile, China imported 217,048 t of HC ferro chrome in Jul’20, which is down by 4.30% m-o-m, and 1.48% y-o-y increase (imports of 213,866 tons in Jul’19). From January to July 2020, the cumulative import volume of ferrochrome reported a decrease of 7% y-o-y.
Chrome ore stock at Chinese port as tallied last weekend was around 3.73 mn t, showing a little decrease of 10,000 tonnes across major Chinese ports. The reason being, ferro chrome plants in Hunan and Guizhou provinces are running at a loss as they are suffering due to the high chrome ore costs and low price of alloys in the market, leading to curtailed production and ore stock build-up. However, the port arrivals at Chongqing and Caofeidian ports reduced, balancing out the difference on the whole.
In the overseas market, no apparent change in offers are realized, but suppliers, particularly from South Africa, kept firm positions due to the stable and smooth shipments.
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