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| HOME >> Topics List >> March, 2005 >> 29 (Tue) |
| Fe-Cr Price For Next Quarter Is Being Finally Adjusted By Rise Of 5 US-Cents / Lb. |
| = For Shipments To Europe And Japan, Major South African Producers |
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The price of South African charge chrome to be shipped in the next quarter ( April - June ) of 2005 is now being finally adjusted with stainless steel mills of Europe and Japan by a rise of 5 US-Cents per lb. and it is supposed that, since the European market has entered into Easter holiday from the end of last week, some consumers intended to settle the price prior to this Easter holiday and already gave an informal consent to this rise. South African producers have rectified from the second half of last year the flow, which price of charge chrome was firstly settled with their consumers in Europe, and aimed to settle at once price of charge chrome with consumers in both of Europe and Asia. Therefore, a rise of price for South African charge chrome for shipments in April - June quarter will be finally confirmed in the middle of this week with stainless steel mills of Europe and Japan. When a rise of 5 US-Cents per lb. is agreed, the new price in Europe is anticipated to come to 77 - 79 US-Cents per lb. delivered. So far Samancor had grasped a leadership of price for South African charge chrome but the owner of this South African company has changed and the matter, which this leadership has been transferred to Xstrata, has become clear through the negotiations for shipments in April - June quarter of 2005. As already reported in our daily The Tex Report N0.8727 published on March 25, 2005, Samancor informed stainless steel mills of their indication to rise the price by 7 US-Cents per lb. but, prior to this indication, Xstrata said that a rise of 5 US-Cents per lb. will be a reasonable level by taking into consideration of the fact that orders for stainless steel to be shipped in forward months have been shadowed in Europe. The price of South African charge chrome for major consumers had been rolled over for the two quarters of October - December of 2004 and January - March of 2005, but the price for shipments in April - June quarter of 2005 is revised after an interval of half year. As regards supply and demand of high carbon ferro-chrome ( charge chrome ), (1) China is anticipated to expand their production of stainless steel by 500,000 tons per annum in 2005 and the demand for ferro-chrome will increase accordingly, (2) the quantity of stainless steel scrap to be generated in 2005 is estimated to decrease compared to that in 2004, and (3) on the background which new production of ferro-chrome has been limited, the supply in 2005 has been still viewed to be tight. As a matter of fact, spot price of high carbon ferro-chrome has already risen to a level of 78 - 79 US-Cents per lb. |
| last modified : Fri 01 Apr, 2005 [10:58] |
