Chromium Element
10 December 2016
Why is stainless steel non-rusting?
10 February 2017
In October 2016, a total of 400,000 tons of high-carbon ferro-chrome was produced in China. Approximately 2.3 tons of chrome ore are consumed for the production of 1 tonne high carbon ferrochrome. In October, around 920 thousand tons of chrome ore was used only for high carbon ferrochrome production. It is estimated that about 80 tons of low and micro carbon ferrochrome production (about 1.5 tons of chrome mine is used for 1 ton production in low and micro carbon production). So consumption of about 1 million tons of chrome ore per month.
It is estimated that China consumed 8.1 million tons of chrome ore between January and October 2016. In this case, China’s chrome inventories need to be examined to understand why prices are rising. It is estimated that there are about 1.2 million tons of chromium ore in the main ports of China on October 21st. This figure dropped to 950 thousand tons on 28 October. There is a drop in about 20% stocks in 7 days.
In China, 1 million tons per month is thought to be consumption, the stock only meets the 1 month production. Due to the uncertainty in prices, chromium wholesaler exporters are pending, and because of the low price, many of the world wholesale buyers do not work and even if they start working now, both winter approach and immediate production will not be realized, giving the impression that chrome prices will continue to be high.
In 2016, China imported 86,000 tons of Turkish Chrome per month. This figure is about 58 thousand tons for the average of January-October last year. There is a serious drop compared to last year. In 2017, Chrome ore buyers are expected to remain stable until the winter months pass for this year.
