Date: Dec 28, 2018
China’s ferrovanadium market saw dramatic ups and downs in the second half of 2018, mainly because the expected pickup in actual demand from steelmakers with the implementation of new quality criteria for rebar failed to materialize.
Data from Mysteel’s database show that FeV prices in the domestic market have been trending downward since mid-November, with that of 50% grade FeV slipping to Yuan 230,000/tonne ($33,409/t) as of December 23 and staying at that level till December 26, the lowest since end-June. Moreover, prices have more than a halved in the space of just a single month, from the all-time high of Yuan 500,000/t recorded over October 19-November 16.
FeV prices hovered between Yuan 185,000/tonne and Yuan 205,000/t during the first half of this year, Mysteel notes. However, prices started to gain steadily from June, and rallied crazily from September until they touched the all-time high of Yuan 500,000/t in mid-October, as Mysteel reported. Buoying the price were the strong market expectations of demand turning robust following the central government’s decision to apply new quality criteria for rebar from November 1.
“The change of regulations was expected to substantially increase demand for ferroalloys including FeV,” a Shanghai-based analyst said, adding that FeV supplies in the domestic market have been tight this year. China prohibited the import of vanadium slag effective from the end of last year, which caused a shortage of raw materials, including vanadium pentoxide, and boosted FeV prices in the short term.
