India: Ferro chrome prices fall for 4 weeks straight

Indian ferro chrome prices have been falling for continuous 4 weeks now. However, producers believe that the demand might rebound from China later this month or in early December, and hence are not reducing their production volumes in the Jajpur area.

This has had a cascading effect on the domestic market, as the producers are now desperate to sell and are competing against each other for the limited demand. As major producers are lowering down their offer levels in the domestic market due to a liquidity crisis, it is forcing other smaller producers to lower offers more aggressively to conclude deals. In the meantime, the stainless steel market is not improving and hence the demand for ferro chrome remains low.

Current prices are assessed at INR 66,500/t Ex-Jajpur, which is down by INR 500/t w-o-w. However, a deal was heard to be concluded at INR 66,000/t as well. Meanwhile, in the spot export market prices remained stable but with limited deals. The prices in the export market are cents 69/lb CNF China, cents 70/lb CNF South Korea and cents 71/lb CNF Japan.

Outlook
Ferro chrome prices are under pressure and it is expected that many fair-weather producers might switch to other ferro alloys to curb losses.