BEIJING (Asian Metal) 5 Jun 19 – Currently, mainstream transaction prices for Chinese vanadium nitride stand at RMB175,000-178,000/t (USD32.9-33.7/kg V) EXW D/A 180 days, unchanged from last week. As the production costs of vanadium nitride remain high due to high prices for vanadium pentoxide flake, vanadium nitride producers would like to raise offers, but steels mills cannot accept it. Supported by costs, prices for Chinese vanadium nitride are expected to be firm in the coming week.
A producer in Northwest China offers vanadium nitride at RMB180,000/t (USD33.9/kg V) now, unchanged from last week. He said, “We concluded orders with steel mills at RMB178,000/t (USD33.7/kg V), and are producing and delivering for these orders. We have not concluded new deals at the current offer. A steel mill sent an enquiry for 20t of vanadium nitride early this week. But we refused as his target price was just RMB173,000/t (USD32.6/kg V). I learned that prices for vanadium pentoxide flake are RMB120,000/t (USD8.1/lb V), so I predicted that prices for vanadium nitride would not drop and might rise to RMB188,000/t (USD35.4/t) in the coming week.”
With an annual production capacity of 3,600t for vanadium nitride, the producer only operates one third of the production lines, and produced 70t in May, expecting the same volume in June. He produces based on sales and holds no stocks now.
A producer in South China offers vanadium nitride at RMB180,000/t (USD33.9/kg V) now, unchanged from last week. He said, “Considering the demand is weak at present, our lowest price for firm order could be RMB178,000/t (USD33.7/kg V). We refused a customer who sent an enquiry early this week to purchase 20t at RMB175,000/t (USD32.9/kg V) as we could not get low-price vanadium pentoxide flake to gain profits.” He last sold 40t at RMB195,000/t (USD36.7/kg V) in mid-May. In view of the high production costs, he predicted that prices for Chinese vanadium nitride would be firm in the coming week.
With an annual production capacity of 1,800t for vanadium nitride, the producer produced 100t in May, and expects the same volume in June. He produces based on sales and holds no stocks now.
www.asianmetal.com
