Fastmarkets looks at the key takeaways from the annual Fastmarkets North American Ferro-alloys conference in Chicago on September 25-27.
Slowing economic, steel production growth will weigh on ferro-alloys prices Ferro-alloys prices will continue to fall going into 2020 because of slowing economic growth and falling steel production, Fastmarkets analyst Amy Bennett told delegates in Chicago last week. "Although ferro-alloy prices will almost certainly trend lower in 2020, given the weakening economic fundamentals, we do not expect to see prices retreat to 2015-2016 lows, assuming producers respond to declining demand with alloy production cuts as needed," she said. In December 2015, the European ferro-vanadium price fell to a low of $13.30-13.80 per kg in-warehouse Rotterdam, compared with $26.70-28 per kg on October 2, according to Fastmarkets historical data. Similarly, the European price for ferro-molybdenum hit a low of $12.10-12.60 per kg in November 2015. Fastmarkets most recently assessed the price at $26.45-26.70 per kg on October 2. Downtrend in vanadium to continue amid excess supply The downtrend in the vanadium...