Chinese ferro-chrome prices plunged late last week after ferro-chrome smelters in the major production hub of Inner Mongolia restarted operations, while muted buyer interest and uncertainty weighed on cif China UG2 chrome ore and charge chrome indices.
Spot domestic ferro-chrome prices drop in China Chrome ore and charge chrome cif China dip Alloys in South Korea and Japan unmoved European ferro-chrome prices tick down US market inactive during holiday slowdown Metal Bulletin's assessment for Chinese spot domestic ferro-chrome prices fell to 7,500-7,700 yuan ($1,129-1,159) per tonne on Friday July 6, down by 3.2% from the previous week. "Consumption from the leading stainless steel mills was already covered by their tenders issued one week ago, and demand in the spot market was weak with achievable prices around 7,600 yuan," one Inner Mongolia-based ferro-chrome producer told Metal Bulletin. The producer revealed that a proportion of the smelters that had halted production over the previous week had resumed output. Strict imposition of environmental regulations in northern China had meant some smaller ferro-chrome smelters had stopped work. The return of this production helped to ease tightness in ferro-chrome and weighed on...