Date:May 4, 2018
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 4 May 18 – Depressed by steel mills’ biddings, Chinese vanadium-nitrogen alloy prices have dropped to around the cost line. Mainstream prices for Chinese vanadium-nitrogen alloy stand at RMB285,000-288,000/t (USD58.33-58.94/kg V) delivered D/A six months now, down sharply by RMB5,000/t (USD1.02/kg V) from last week. Affected by combined squeeze from upstream and downstream market, some vanadium-nitrogen alloy producers lost all profit margins and were forced to shut down production lines. It is expected that prices for Chinese vanadium-nitrogen alloy would continue to be under heavy pressure in the coming week.
A producer in North China claimed that they offer RMB288,000/t (USD58.94/kg V) EXW D/A six months for vanadium-nitrogen alloy now, down by RMB5,000/t (USD1.02/kg V) from last week. He said, “Our transaction prices for vanadium-nitrogen alloy have been declining all the way recently, and steel mills forced the price down seriously. We signed a supplying order of 100t of vanadium-nitrogen alloy with a steel mills at RMB288,000/t (USD58.94/kg V) delivered D/A six months this Tuesday which is the lowest transaction price for us now.” The source disclosed that they also produce high-purity powder vanadium as auxiliary raw material, so the prices would not be less than production cost but have been near to the cost line. He expected that prices for Chinese vanadium-nitrogen alloy would keep being under pressure in the coming week.