December 02, 2008

Chromium ore price dips on dull ferrochrome sales

It is reported that domestic ferrochrome market moves sluggish this week and traders all pay attention to purchase prices offered by Baosteel and Taiyuan Steel and hole a wait and see attitude. Producers appear pessimistic towards future market owing to stagnant sales. High carbon FeCr price in some regions loses another CNY 200 per tonne to CNY 300 per tonne this week decreasing demand for Cr ore.

Ferrochrome producers report high costs and may suspend productions in the coming days. They also expect chrome ore price to go downwards and seldom buy the resource in quantities. In the meanwhile quotations for imported chrome ore stays high recently whilst spot price lingers a bit lower. Domestic producers hence cut orders for imported resources from foreign suppliers. Traders also reduce purchasing in view of huge stocks. Fresh orders drop dramatically and high price will hardly last for a long time.

Against such a backdrop, chrome ore sales slow down this week. According to some traders, many ferrochrome producers breach signed chrome ore purchasing contracts owing to pessimistic view of future market. Purchase volume is also dwindling.

Chrome ore quotations mainly remain firm yet some dip by CNY 1 per million tonne unit. Payment on acceptance is also recognized.

(Sourced from MySteel.net)