China will be able to absorb the large volumes of ore and ferro-alloys supply it imported in the first half of this year, but supply concerns loom, Fastmarkets head of research Alistair Ramsay said during a recent Fastmarkets webinar on Covid-19 and what it means for trade flow and demand for key ferro-alloys and ores.
“It is been an extraordinary period with record levels of ores and ferro-alloys imports for China,” Ramsay said. “We’ve never seen steel production that strong and we’ve never seen steel demand in China that strong either – over the first seven months of the year steel production was at nearly 3% year-on-year growth rate from what it was already a spectacular 2019.”
In the case of vanadium, China’s imports of ferro-vanadium totaled 394 tonnes in the first six months of this year, compared with 92 tonnes imported over the corresponding period of 2019.
This surge in imports was caused by a continued price differential between Chinese and European vanadium prices that sparked interest in Chinese imports, webinar panelists said.
While the Chinese ferro-vanadium price has been underpinned by reduced supply and improved demand since late April, the price in Europe had been sliding until recently due to weakening…
In the case of vanadium, China’s imports of ferro-vanadium totaled 394 tonnes in the first six months of this year, compared with 92 tonnes imported over the corresponding period of 2019.
This surge in imports was caused by a continued price differential between Chinese and European vanadium prices that sparked interest in Chinese imports, webinar panelists said.
While the Chinese ferro-vanadium price has been underpinned by reduced supply and improved demand since late April, the price in Europe had been sliding until recently due to weakening…
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