London, 27 May 2009 - Turkey-based ETI Chrome, the world’s second largest high-grade lumpy chromite ore producer, expects the global chrome market to recover in the second half of 2010.
Global chrome prices were expected to "hit the bottom line between March and July of 2009", and the market will improve in the second half of 2010, Robert Yildirim, president of ETI said at the 2009 China Ferro-alloys International Conference in Beijing.
Yildirim expects the chromite ore price to be around $150-250 a tonne in 2009, and to slowly improve to $250-320 in 2010, $280-360 in 2011, and $300-600 tonne in 2012.
He also forecast that the high-carbon ferro-chrome price will be at $0.60-0.90 per lb in 2009, and to increase afterwards to $0.90-1.30 in 2010, $1.10-1.50 in 2011, and $1.40-2.20 in 2012.
China will remain the sole global importer until the fourth quarter of 2009, Yildirim added.
The global chromite ore price hit $150-160 a tonne, cost and freight, into China in March, and the price has been hovering at that level since. The high-carbon ferro-chrome spot price hit lows around $0.50 a lb in March, and has since improved a bit to around $0.60 a lb as of early May.
Despite these slight positive signs, it is hard for the high-carbon ferro-chrome contract price to achieve a rollover in the third quarter of 2009 due to the remaining weak demand in the globe.
The high-carbon ferro-chrome contract price for the second quarter of 2009 is $0.69 per lb, down from the first quarter’s $0.79 per lb, but all these prices were more of an "academic exercise" Yildirim said, as the market has been so stagnant so far - little trading has been conducted at such prices. |
