China's SiMn, FeSi prices rise amid new energy consumption controls

China's Guangxi and Ningxia provinces recently issued notices on dual control on the total amount and intensity of energy consumption, fueling concerns over possible supply disruptions in the ferro-silicon and silico-manganese markets, which translated into price gains for both products this week.

The Development and Reform Commission in Guangxi announced on Tuesday April 13 that it pledges to lower its gross domestic product (GDP) unit energy consumption by 13.5% this year, and has set the maximum increase of energy consumption at 11.70 million tonnes of coal equivalent.
Similarly, the Energy Conservation Office in Ningxia issued a notice on April 16 requiring high energy consuming industries - including steel, electrolytic aluminium, cement and ferro-alloys - to conserve energy, reduce emissions, upgrade facilities to improve environmental performance and weed out outdated capacity.
Some ferro-alloy smelters in Guangxi province have already been ordered to stop production, with restriction requirements varying from one to another, market sources say.

One Guilin-based smelter, with a monthly production of 150,000 tonnes of silico-manganese and 150,000 tonnes of...

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