A rise in China’s vanadium demand from the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) industry is expected to rise to at least 9,100t of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) equivalent in 2022 from this year’s 3,640t, on the back of increasing energy storage projects.
Vanadium demand from the steel-producing industry will hold stable next year when China’s steel production is expected to be unchanged from the 2021 and 2020 levels, in line with the government’s commitment to curb steel production growth for its carbon reduction targets.
New global vanadium production projects will have a combined capacity this year of 7,000t-11,000t of V2O5, the director of the vanadium and titanium research centre at steel producer Chengde Steel Cheng Donghui told delegates at the 13th International Vanadium Industry Summit. This includes Russia’s Evraz with 1,320-2,640t, China with 4,000-8,000t, White Mesa Mill with 600-900t, Brazil’s Largo with 425-925t and South Africa’s Bushveld Vametco with 837-1,284t. These projects started production in the first half of the year.
Global vanadium production was 102,365t of vanadium metal equivalent in 2020, down from 102,631t in 2019 because of reduced demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. China accounted for 61.44pc of global vanadium output and 59.75pc of global vanadium consumption last year, according to data from international vanadium technique institution Vanitec.
Demand from the steel industry have recovered gradually since October following a sharp fall in the third quarter of this year caused by steel output restrictions imposed by the Chinese government. Beijing aims to keep 2021 steel output flat with 2020 levels, with state-owned mills having been ordered to cut steel output and exports, with provinces also directing mills to keep output flat.
China’s output of crude steel fell for the fourth consecutive month to 73.75mn t in September, down by 21.2pc from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. Crude steel output during January-September reached 810mn t, up by 2pc from the previous year because of higher output in the first half of this year when output was up by 11.8pc to 456.38mn t.
Some steel mills, particularly those producing high-performance and specialty steels, have increased their use of ferro-niobium instead of ferro-vanadium this year as ferro-niobium prices are more stable. China imported 29,246t of ferro-niobium during January-September, up by 24.95pc from 23,407t in the same period of last year, customs data show.
China exported 3,615t of ferro-vanadium of 75pc grade minimum during January-September period, up by 15.87pc from 3,120t in the same period of last year. It exported 2,903t of vanadium pentoxide flake for the same period, down by 13.03pc from 3,338t a year earlier.
China produced 68,800t of vanadium pentoxide equivalent in this year’s first half, up by 11.15pc from 61,900t in the same period last year.
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