Finnish stainless steelmaker Outokumpu expects to encounter continued cost pressure from high prices for graphite electrodes and ferro-silicon in 2018, it said on Wednesday January 31.
"We're seeing increases in graphite electrode [contract] prices into the early part of 2018 of more than 300% [year-on-year from the average cost in 2017]," chief financial officer Christoph de la Camp said during a conference call on Wednesday.Annual contract prices for graphite electrodes in 2018 have risen sharply year-on-year around the world."The price was around $2,500 per tonne in early 2017 and now we see spot prices of $23,000-26,000 per tonne," chief executive officer Roeland Baan said in the same conference call.Outokumpu lost some market share among distribution and automotive sector customers over October and November 2017, after introducing an extra charge of ?,?30 ($37) per tonne for graphite electrodes in late September 2017, Baan said."We regained a little of our market share in December and we expect to return to our normal market...