WEBINAR: China still consuming H1 ore, alloys imports but supply concerns developing - panel

China will be able to absorb the large volumes of ore and ferro-alloys supply it imported in the first half of this year, but supply concerns loom, Fastmarkets head of research Alistair Ramsay said during a recent Fastmarkets webinar on Covid-19 and what it means for trade flow and demand for key ferro-alloys and ores.

"It is been an extraordinary period with record levels of ores and ferro-alloys imports for China," Ramsay said. "We've never seen steel production that strong and we've never seen steel demand in China that strong either - over the first seven months of the year steel production was at nearly 3% year-on-year growth rate from what it was already a spectacular 2019."
In the case of vanadium, China's imports of ferro-vanadium totaled 394 tonnes in the first six months of this year, compared with 92 tonnes imported over the corresponding period of 2019.
This surge in imports was caused by a continued price differential between Chinese and European vanadium prices that sparked interest in Chinese imports, webinar panelists said.

While the Chinese ferro-vanadium price has been underpinned by reduced supply and improved demand since late April, the price in Europe had been sliding until recently due to weakening...

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