The European vanadium market rebounded in the second half of last week, pulled higher by a recovery in the Chinese market.
- China’s export FeV price boosted by domestic market strength
- European FeV price buoyed by recovery in Chinese market
- European V2O5 price unchanged amid limited spot activity
- US FeV market levels off
Export prices for ferro-vanadium in China ticked up for a third consecutive week in the week ended Friday June 14, with market sentiment boosted by rebounding prices in the country’s domestic market.
Fastmarkets assessed the export price for ferro-vanadium, min 78%, fob China, at $35-37 per kg on June 13, widening upward by $0.50 per kg from $35-36.50 per kg in the prior week.
Chinese ferro-vanadium exporters either held their offer prices firm or refrained from offering last week after realizing that the domestic price was much more favorable than that in the European market.
This dynamic also resulted in there being limited buying interest from foreign buyers last week.
“It’s normal to see that there are limited numbers of deals concluded in the export market this week because the Chinese price is a bit high, and overseas buyers will prefer places where the price is much cheaper when they have a real need to restock,” a Chinese market source said on June 13.
While China’s ferro-vanadium export market remains fairly tepid at present, participants are eyeing continued domestic price gains amid active buying and increases in vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) prices.
Some traders and mills continued to actively stock up on ferro-vanadium and vanadium nitrogen in anticipation of a possible round of rebar quality checks in China. This has boosted sentiment in the country’s domestic ferro-vanadium market and encouraged some suppliers to raise their offer prices, according to market sources.
“Many market participants have been talking about [the rebar quality check] recently, though there is still no official news yet,” a second Chinese market source said.
At the same time, gains in spot Chinese V2O5 prices amid an apparent tightening of the market had also prompted some ferro-vanadium producers to raise their offer prices accordingly, market sources told Fastmarkets.
Despite the increase in spot V2O5 prices in China, three of the country’s major V2O5 producers, Tranvic Group, Desheng Group and Hebei Chengde Jianlong Co, have announced that they are maintaining their latest long-term contract price at 120,000 yuan ($17,326) per tonne, paid on acceptance and including value-added tax. This is equivalent to around $7.90 per lb, according to Fastmarkets’ calculations.
“These major suppliers chose to keep the latest price stable because the gap between the spot market price and the previous long-term contract price is not very wide,” a third market source told Fastmarkets.
