Indonesia: Ferro chrome imports down in Feb amid drop in stainless steel exports

Indonesia's ferro chrome imports went down by 46% in February, 2022 to 83,582 tonnes (t) in contrast to 156,621 t in January, 2022. The volumes dropped sharply due to lower stainless steel demand in the overseas market. Ferro chrome is a key input material in stainless steel production.

It may be mentioned that in January, 2022, Indonesian stainless steel export volumes dropped drastically by 37.2% to 174,901 t, which weighed on ferro chrome imports in February, 2022.

South Africa, a major ferro chrome exporter to Indonesia, supplied 55,999 t, down 53% m-o-m. Other major exporting countries were Malaysia and China.

Chrome ore

On the contrary, chrome ore imports marked a humongous growth of 66,000% in February 2022 to 91,569 t from the previous month's mere 137 t in January, 2022. South Africa stood as a major exporter country to Indonesia for chrome ore at 91,558t (up 76198%).

Manganese ore

Moving further, manganese ore imports increased sharply by 2,005% in February 2022 to 34,134 t from 1,622 t in January 2022. Meanwhile, on a yearly basis, imports increased by 199% in February 2022. Major exporting countries of manganese ore were Australia (33,273 t), followed by Tanzania, and China.