China's ferro alloy imports rise over 10% y-o-y in Jan-May'23

Ferro alloy imports into China registered an increase of 11% y-o-y to 21.06 million tonnes (mnt) in the January-May 2023 period compared to 19.07 mnt in the same period last year.

Sub-commodity wise imports-

• Manganese ore: China's manganese ore imports stood at 12.87 mnt in January-May 2023, up 9.6% from 11.74 mnt in January-May 2022. South Africa was the largest exporter at 6.05 mnt followed by Gabon at 2.15 mnt, Australia at 1.88 mnt and Ghana 1.06 mnt. Imports in May decreased to to 2.52 mnt compared to 3.07 mnt in April.
  
  
• Chrome ore: China imported 6.75 mnt of chrome ore in January-May, up 5% compared to 6.46 mnt in the corresponding period last year. South Africa was the largest exporter at 5.41 mnt followed by Turkey at 0.43 mnt and Zimbabwe at 0.22 mnt. Import volumes rose by 14% ot 1.68 mnt in May as against 1.47 mnt in April.
  
  
• Ferro chrome: Ferro chrome imports into China amounted to 1.45 mnt in January-May compared to 0.86 mnt in the corresponding period last year. The largest exporter was South Africa at 0.91 mnt followed by Kazakhstan at 0.27 mnt, India at 0.15 mnt, Zimbabwe at 0.09 mnt. In May, imports declined ot 0.22 mnt from 0.41 mnt in April.
  
  

Outlook

Steel demand in the country is declining which indicates that ferro alloy imports may either remain constant or witness a decline in the coming months.