In the past week, the Chinese ferromolybdenum market has remained on its downward trend of the previous week, with more purchases seen from the steel mills at the beginning of the month of March. On the other hand, the ferrovanadium market has continued to be relatively stable. Based on the current market situation, China's ferrovanadium market may maintain its stable trend in the coming period.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Ferromolybdenum | Mo60 | Jinzhou | 147,000 | -2,000 | 22,374 | -305 |
Ferrovanadium | V50 | Panzhihua | 100,500 | - | 15,297 | - |
Steel mills step up their purchases of ferromolybdenum
Mainstream quotations in the ferromolybdenum market in Jinzhou are at RMB 146,000-148,000/mt ($22,256-22,527/mt), down RMB 2,000/mt ($304/mt) week on week. Meanwhile, market quotations for domestic origin molybdenum concentrate (45 percent grade) are currently at RMB 2,130-2,180/mtu ($325-333/mtu), slightly down on week-on-week basis.
Over the past week, the Chinese domestic ferromolybdenum market has seen an increased number of transactions, while prices have dropped down. Domestic steel mills have started to replenish their inventories and so have increased their purchase volumes. As regards molybdenum concentrate, the market has seen few transactions and miners are not willing to sell due to the decline in ferromolybdenum prices.
Chinese ferrovanadium market maintains its stable trend
At present, domestic quotations of ferrovanadium (50 percent) in China are in the range of RMB 100,000-102,000/mt ($15,221-15,525/mt), unchanged week on week, while prices of vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) in China are standing at RMB 92,000-94,000/mt ($14,003-14,307/mt), also unchanged week on week. Meanwhile, in Europe, the ferrovanadium market has remained unchanged. Quotations of vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) in Europe are at $6.85-7.45/lb, while market quotations of ferrovanadium (V70-80) have remained at $30.5-31.75/kg.
In the past week, the domestic ferrovanadium market has remained stable. The purchase price from mills for ferrovanadium (50 percent) has in general remained at RMB 101,000-102,000/mt ($15,396-15,525/mt). However, the purchase price from two major domestic mills has declined slightly to RMB 98,000-100,000/mt ($14,939-15,221/mt), which has surprised market players and weakened their confidence in the market in the coming period. On the other hand, vanadium pentoxide manufacturers have remained their offers unchanged at around RMB 93,000/mt ($14,177/mt), with a few transactions being concluded at RMB 92,000/mt ($14,003/mt).