According to Mining News Pro - Earlier today, Baosteel settled its high carbon Ferro Chrome purchase price at RMB 7100/MT for October delivery, up by RMB 300/MT from Sep`18 levels. Ferro Chrome prices in China are rising on the backdrop of rising demand coupled with costlier Chrome Ore.
Despite sufficient domestic inventory in the Chinese market, the Indian Ferro Chrome producers have raised their offers to China to 82 cents/lb. There have been reports of some deals being concluded at the above-mentioned levels.
Chrome Ore prices also continued to edge higher. South Africa (40-42%) UG2 Chrome Ore rose to USD 165/MT CIF China, up by USD 5/MT from the previous week.
However, on account of thin trading elsewhere in Asia, restricted any possible upward movement in prices. The price for South Korea and Japan remains unchanged at 86 cents/lb and 87 cents/lb CIF respectively. An Indian producer remarked, "The Korean market has been quiet this week but I don`t think prices will soon go up given the improvement seen in the Chinese market."
He further revealed, “Japan has sufficient inventory, while POSCO from South Korea is counter-offered at 83 cents/lb CIF Korea for 5,000 MT of purchase, October delivery.”
Following the hike in export prices, Indian producers also raised their offers in the domestic market to INR 80,000/MT (Ex-Odisha).
The demand for the commodity in the domestic market is observed to be constant and with limited inventory level with the Ferro Chrome producers - the sellers are encouraged to raise offers.
On the future outlook, market participants are bullish on the commodity expecting the prices to remain on a positive trend.