Bad things come in two’s The current economic situation continues to affect the FeCr market. This is a combination of oversupply of chromium ore, outbreak consequences, and global financial markets volatility massive risk-off. Even before the latest negative factors came onto play this year, the [...]
Ferrochrome and viral outbreak in China — what’s ahead? Over the last few days TSS, TISCO and Baosteel announced their Bidding price rollover for February: TSS price stands at 5797 RMB/t, in US denomination this equals to 66.69 cents per lb of Cr TISCO [...]
Going short or going long? During the last week of 2019, major Stainless-steel mills in China have announced their bidding prices and as anticipated before these prices decreased: Tsingshan lowered its bidding price by 200 RMB, settling at 5797 RMB/t, while in USD denomination this equals [...]
Standing at a roundabout Recently, major Stainless-steel mills in China have announced their bidding prices: Both Baosteel and Tsingshan decreased their prices by approximately 400 RMB/t, settling at 6,000 and 5,997 RMB/t respectively TISCO on the other hand, continues to keep its Bidding Price [...]
Bolivar cannot carry double Over the month of October, the ferrochrome industry was puzzled by disaccord in bidding prices and terms from major consumers in China. TISCO was the first to announce their bidding price for October with a sharp increase of 400RMB and [...]
Chrome alloys global market — challenges and prospects UNICHROME AG presentation at the CIS Ferroalloys Conference in Istanbul on September 19-20, 2019
Lost in… conversion With the summer end, slowdown is starting to ease up. Despite positive market news such as nickel price surge (around 32% since the beginning of July), the overall sentiment of the market is cautious and calculated due to still ongoing risks [...]
European Benchmark Q3 2019 Last week Merafe released Q3 2019 European Benchmark, which now stands at 1.04 USD/lb, a drop of 13% from 1.20 USD/lb in Q2. Despite a big drop, it falls in line with the current decrease in CIF Shanghai, one of [...]
No easy way out TISCO and Tsingshan just announced their June Tender Prices, the drop of 350 RMB/t (6550 RMB/t and 6746 RMB/t respectively). This moves Tender prices to lowest level since May 2018. The most likely scenario for Q3 European Benchmark now is [...]
How big is the fish? China Tender Price increase for April 2019 As anticipated earlier, April bidding prices were announced at 300 rmb/mt above March level yesterday. Although it is reported marginal in some newsletters, in fact this is a 4% increase in price including VAT, meaning a [...]
A Step towards the Right Direction The Q2 2019 European Benchmark has just been settled at 1.20 USD/lb, an increase of 7.1%. The announcement came ahead of Chinese ferrochrome bidding prices for April, thus making the European Benchmark the leading indicator for the ferrochrome market this [...]
FeCr Market: from Regional Trends to a Global Picture UNICHROME AG presentation at the 20th Asian Ferroalloys Conference in Hong Kong on March 10-12, 2019
Up From the Bottom Recently, major stainless-steel mills in China have announced their ferrochrome bidding prices for March deliveries. Just like in October, TISCO was the first mill to release the price, possibly to seize the market and hedge itself from sudden price surges. [...]
Ferroalloys and ferrochrome market: transforming today from past to future UNICHROME AG presentation at the Argus Metals Week in London on March 1, 2019
Truck tire will not fix town car broken wheel Recently some of the ferrochrome market participants suggested that international ferrochrome prices should be based on the Chinese Tender Prices. Over the last couple of years, the bidding price in China has become an important [...]
Mouse or Elephant — looking forward to Q1 2019 The end of December is approaching, and the ferrochrome industry is preparing for the Q1 European Benchmark announcement. With the current price downturn in all the major markets, it seems reasonable that the benchmark price [...]
FeCr Supply Factors Overview November, 2018 1. ESKOM has been in denial about coal cliff ESKOM is now running short on the coal stocks at the major powerplants. According to South African news sources and Ferroalloynet.com, some of the plants have around 10 days of [...]
Weekly Market Overview: October 22-26, 2018 Eskom wants to increase electricity prices by 15% This is a continues issue that plagues South Africa, despite recent price hike, Eskom still wants to increase it, 15% annually for the next 3 years Price hikes coupled with [...]
Ferrochrome market diversity: crossroad or roundabout? UNICHROME AG presentation at the North American Ferroalloys Conference in Chicago on September 26-28, 2018
Mouse or Elephant? If you see a mouse under the inscription of an elephant, do not believe your eyes! EU Benchmark vs CIF China South African FeCr price The above graph represents one of the most puzzling aspects of the ferrochrome industry. [...]
And the pendulum continues to swing The trade tension between China and the USA is gearing up on the daily basis. Recently United States announced that it will implement a 10% duty on all the ferroalloys imported from China. Despite the fact that China [...]
When the smoke is going down Let’s look at the latest announcement of 700rmb/mt increase for July of ferrochrome bidding price by biggest stainless producer in China. This is widely regarded as the result of the environmental shutdowns in local ferrochrome industry combined with [...]
From dusk till dawn. Possible environmental cutbacks and global ferrochrome market in Q3 2018 Currently, the ferrochrome prices have started rising due to potential environmental cutbacks, which are currently being implemented in China. Nevertheless, the effect from the cutbacks will not last long. As [...]
Q3 2018 more of the same or change in trend? As we expressed in our last column, the necessity for FeCr China Tender prices to break 7,000 RMB/t is apparent. Following the latest announcements by stainless-steel mill in China, it is safe to assume that [...]
A Few thoughts on the second half of 2018 With the first half of 2018 almost over, we would like to point out couple of observations which we believe are important for the market in the nearest future. China Tender prices recently have been [...]
Today’s Market: is there a way forward to less volatility? UNICHROME AG presentation at the ICDA Members’ Meeting in Paris on April 24-26, 2018
UNICHROME presentation at the 19th Asian Ferroalloys Conference in Hong Kong UNICHROME AG presentation at the 19th Asian Ferroalloys Conference in Hong Kong on March 20-22, 2018
2018 Episode: A New Hope While China is enjoying its annul festivities, South Africa has become a center of attention for the ferrochrome and metals industry. The interest is primarily due to the country’s political change, the election of the new president and rapid [...]
"Back to the Future". FeCr Feb tender: more RMB means less Rands per unit For the second consecutive month, stainless steel producers in China increased their ferrochrome tender prices by 600 RMB/mt, apparently the fundamentals support our expectations. Although this is an increase of 8%, [...]
Start of 2018: "For a few dollars more" With 2018 being only two weeks old, some positive news seems to come. That will hopefully be a positive sign for the 2018 in the Chrome industry. There are indeed some positive indications: High Carbon [...]
"Tomorrow never dies" — What is ahead for ferrochrome? Some positive news are coming this week between Christmas and New Year. As we expected in UNICHROME, major stainless-steel producers in China have announced increase in their tender prices. It is up by 200 RMB/T. We think [...]
"Live and Let Die" — a Couple of Thoughts on New Benchmark Developments Recently, there has been quite a bit of a dynamic development on supply / demand and, obviously, prices for some of Ferroalloys. Let’s take FeSi and some other products like electrodes [...]
“You Only Live Twice…” Could 2018 be same or more turbulent for Cr than 2017? Once again, the market is hit by a downward direction right before the end of the year. Chinese tender prices have dropped around 16-17% over the last three [...]
UNICHROME presentation at the 33rd Ferroalloys Conference in Lisbon, Portugal UNICHROME AG presentation at the 33rd Ferroalloys Conference in Lisbon, Portugal on November 19-21, 2017 Chrome: Today’s Market Reality & Other Topics in the Agenda
Q4 2017/Q1 2018 This quarter once has again shown that the market is under the shadow of uncertainty of where the demand from China will go The EU Benchmark for Q4 jumped 26% from Q3, following China tender prices strong behavior during Q3, [...]
UNICHROME presentation at the 3rd CIS Ferroalloys Conference in Tbilisi, Georgia UNICHROME AG presentation at the 3rd CIS Ferroalloys Conference in Tbilisi, Georgia on September 21-22, 2017 Challenges of global chrome alloys market & CIS suppliers' position in terms of consolidation (English version) Вызовы глобального рынка хромовых [...]
Chrome: Recent Market Challenges & Outlook This presentation was made at the North American Ferroalloys Conference (USA, Chicago, September 6–8, 2017) by UNICHROME AG. Please follow the link to read full text. A few reflections on UNICHROME presentation at AMM Conference in Chicago: [...]
Mid Q3 Market view: Never say never. Could H2 2017 dynamics of Cr-contained ore and alloys become a "déjà vu" of 2016? This is to follow up the previous view regarding the market development in the first half of 2017 made in the [...]
2Q'2017 Market Situation Overview The Cr market, in particular Cr ore and HC FeCr, started the year 2017 at record high since 2008 price levels. The main reason for this was a combination of robust demand from stainless steel industry with the slowing [...]
