China's stricter regime of environment controls was one of the key factors influencing fundamentals and prices in the Chinese ferro-alloys markets in 2017, and these controls will continue to affect supply and prices this year.
This was the consensus of opinion among market participants during the 19th Asian Ferro-Alloys Conference, held in Hong Kong on Thursday March 22.Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that clear rivers and green mountains are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver, so environmental inspections in 2018 will be stricter, and ferro-alloys producers' environmental costs will be higher, conference delegates agreed.An order enforcing a halt to production of nickel pig iron (NPI) in Huade County in central Inner Mongolia over the past two weeks is unlikely to have a significant effect on prices for the material, Metal Bulletin has reported.But if there are any environmental...