Metalnewsnet 25 Feb:

Mr Cengiz Onal, the sales manager of Eti Krom in Turkey was one of guest speakers at the 3rd International Stainless Steel Trade Summit held on the beginning of February in Dubai of United Arab Emirates. He delivered his speech, saying that a global prospect of ferrochrome in 2010 will be consumption: 7,880,000 tonnes, production: 7,770,000 tonnes and resulting in a balance. The contents of a speech made by Onal Sales Manager are summarized as follows:

1. The supply and demand of ferrochrome in the world in 2010 are estimated to be consumption: 7,880,000 tonnes, up by 17% YoY and production: 7,770,000 tonnes, up by 33% YoY as mentioned above. For a reference, the steel industry of the world consumed 6,738,000 tons of ferrochrome in 2009, down by 1% YoY and, on the other hand, the ferroalloy industry of the world produced 5,835,000 tonnes of ferrochrome in 2009, down by 22% YoY.

2. The stainless steel industry is the largest consumer of ferrochrome and a revival in production of stainless steel has turned to be remarkable in Europe, the USA, Japan and South Korea. In addition, China has been increasing their production of stainless steel on a basic tone since 2009 and this whole aspect is multiplying the world consumption of ferrochrome.

3. The total quantity of ferrochrome to be consumed in China and other Asian countries in 2010 is anticipated to share a 65% of the world consumption (comprising of 37% by China and 28% by other Asian countries). For a reference, the western world had shared a 45% of the world consumption of ferrochrome in 2009.

4. The quantity of ferrochrome consumed by China in 2009 came to a nearer scale to 3,500,000 tonnes, consisting of domestic production and imported cargoes, but the quantity of ferrochrome produced in China in 2009 was smaller than that imported into China in the same year, because China imported 2,000,000 tonnes of ferrochrome in 2009. However, the quantity of ferrochrome to be consumed in China in 2010 is anticipated to exceed a scale of 3,700,000 tonnes on an annualized base but China is expected to produce 1,900,000 tonnes per annum of ferrochrome in 2010. Accordingly, a portion of the imports is supposed to remain as unchanged from that in 2009.

5. The world output of crude stainless steel in 2010 is forecasted to come to 28.50 million tonnes by an increase of 14.8% from that of 24.828 million tonnes in 2009. In spite of the fact that China increased their production of crude stainless steel in 2009 to a wonderful extent, the world output of crude stainless steel in 2009 had converged to a lower scale that in 2005 but a recovery in production of stainless steel in such countries as Japan, South Korea, India and Taiwan will turn to be remarkable in 2010.

6. The annual quantity of ferrochrome to be consumed by China is estimated to share 37% of the world consumption. Also, in order to comply with this substantial consumption of ferrochrome in China, the strategically quantities of chrome to be stockpiled in China have a possibility to require 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 tonnes of chrome ore and 700,000 to 1,000,000 tonnes of ferrochrome.

Source: TEX

Editor: KylinTse