The European vanadium market rebounded for the first time in 15 weeks after a late-week surge in buying interest, while Chinese exporters and US suppliers cut their offer prices amid sluggish demand.
- Chinese exporters slash offers amid sluggish demand from abroad
- EU FeV market halts slide, realizes first gains since February on late week rally
- European V2O5 market follows FeV uptrend
- US FeV prices tumble amid slowed demand, lower prices abroad
The export price for ferro-vanadium in China softened for a third consecutive week on Thursday May 23 amid sluggish demand from abroad.
Fastmarkets assessed the export price for ferro-vanadium, min 78%, fob China, at $33-36 per kg on May 23, the lowest level since November 2017. The latest assessment is down by 6.8% from $35-39 per kg a week earlier.
Buyers from abroad demonstrated only limited interest in procuring ferro-vanadium from China last week despite a constantly narrowing price spread between the Chinese and European markets after the sharp drop seen in the Chinese market since the May Day holiday (May 1-4).
“There is almost no price difference in both markets now, but overseas buyers remained on the sidelines possibly because they are waiting for a lower price since the Chinese market has been on the decline,” a Chinese market source said.
“I feel buyers from abroad will only place orders until after Chinese price [of ferro-vanadium] showed signs of stabilization or rebounding,” the source added.
The domestic vanadium market in China has seen a significant drop since early May, partly stimulated by a significant drop in the vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) price.
“Although the overall market sentiment is still weak amid soft demand, I do not think there is large room for [ferro-vanadium] price to dip further as the current price has put most suppliers on the brink of [making a loss],” a second Chinese market source said.
Likewise, China’s export price for V2O5 also moved down last week due to a lack of buying interest from abroad.
Fastmarkets assessed the export price for V2O5, min 98%, fob China, at $7.60-7.90 per lb on May 23, also the lowest level since November 2017. The price was down 4.3% from $7.90-8.30 per lb on May 16.
