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The export price for ferro-vanadium in China remained unchanged in the week ended Friday April 26. Chinese exporters held their offers firm despite subdued buying interest from abroad.
Fastmarkets assessed the export price for ferro-vanadium, min 78%, fob China, at $50-54 per kg on April 25, unchanged for a second consecutive week.
Chinese ferro-vanadium exporters were unwilling to lower their offers further last week despite limited buying interest seen from the international market, market sources told Fastmarkets.
“This is because Chinese exporters realized that even if they cut their prices a step further, it is still impossible to promote a deal in the export market because the price spread between the Chinese and European markets is too wide now. A more favorable domestic price also lured them to seek a chance to sell domestically,” one market participant said.
Currently, the price spread between the Chinese and European markets has widened to around $8.50-11 per kg, according to Fastmarkets data.
The domestic ferro-vanadium market, however, saw a slight softening last week despite the relative stability in the vanadium nitrogen, another ferro-alloy product containing vanadium.
Vanadium nitrogen alloy has also enjoyed some popularity among Chinese steel mills in the rebar-making process, Fastmarkets understands.
“I think it’s reasonable to see the domestic [ferro-vanadium] price dip a bit because the price of ferro-vanadium was much higher than that of vanadium nitrogen previously,” a Chinese market source said. “It’s time for a correction now.”
“But at the same time, it also indicates that the downstream demand [for ferro-vanadium] is not very good,” the above source added.
Both domestic ferro-vanadium and vanadium nitrogen prices in China may continue to face downward pressure, if the demand from domestic mills failed to see some improvement in the coming weeks, market sources said.
Meanwhile, China’s ferro-vanadium exports dipped 19.8% in March compared with February with fewer Chinese ferro-vanadium exporters showing interest in exporting their material abroad.
Further upstream, the export price for vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) was also unchanged amid a lack of buying interest from abroad.
Fastmarkets assessed the price for V2O5, min 98%, fob China, at $10.50-11.50 per lb on April 25, unchanged week on week.
Chinese domestic ferro-vanadium producers were not active in procuring V2O5 last week and prefered to stay on the sidelines awaiting the market’s next direction.
“We did not buy any volume [of V2O5] this week as we still have some stocks at hand,” a Chinese ferro-vanadium producer said on April 25. “We do not have a plan to restock [V2O5] until after our current stocks have been depleted to a certain level.”
“The market direction is still not clear, so it’s better to stay cautious,” the above producer added. European ferro-vanadium price falls slow Meanwhile, the continuous falls witnessed in the European ferro-vanadium market seemed to have abated for now, with prices only dipping slightly at the top end of Fastmarkets’ published range last week.
Fastmarkets assessed the price of ferro-vanadium, 78% min, free delivered duty-paid in Europe, at $41.50-43 per kg on April 26, narrowing downward by $0.50 per kg from the mid-week assessment of $41.50-43.50 per kg on April 24. The price had been assessed at $43.50-44.50 per kg on April 19.
Ferro-vanadium prices have fallen more than 60% from the all-time highs of $126-128 per kg reached last year. The price is now at its lowest level since November 2017.
Prices rose sharply late last year, in part due to an expected increase in demand arising from the implementation of new rebar manufacturing standards in China, which came into effect in November last year.
But weaker-than-expected demand from steel mills in China and the increased use of ferro-niobium as a substitute for ferro-vanadium there have been blamed for the steep decline in the ferro-vanadium market.
“The market looks like it’s in a better shape than last week,” a trader in Europe said.
“It looks like we might be close to reaching the floor now and there is resistance at $40 per kg. But still, there is a lot of material around in Europe,” a second European trader said.
As well, “tightening prompt availability and higher ferro-niobium prices make ferro-vanadium look attractive again,” a third European market participant said.
Meanwhile, Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment of European vanadium pentoxide, min 98%, in-warehouse Rotterdam, fell 13.3% to $8.70-9.50 per lb on April 26 from $10-11 per lb in the previous week. The price is now the weakest it has been since November 2017.
A 20-tonne deal was concluded at the lower end of the new range late last week with offers also moving down to the new price level, according to market sources.
The European V2O5 market has been under pressure since the beginning of March due to continuous weakness in the ferro-vanadium market.
V2O5 prices in Europe have fallen more than 45% since the beginning of March.
US ferro-vanadium market finds temporary stability The US ferro-vanadium market levelled off last week after spot activity levels slowed considerably.
US spot prices for ferro-vanadium held at $22-24 per lb on April 25, unchanged from the prior week, according to Fastmarkets’ latest assessment.
A lack of spot inquiries in the market prevented further downturn over the period.
“We saw the market paused a bit this week. There haven’t been any new inquiries settled for the most part, so no change in pricing yet,” a supplier source stated.
Market participants suspect prices will continue to hold steady until market activity picks up once again.
At that time, prices may succumb to further pressure given the current prices levels in Europe, sources said.