China's special alloys market has continued its softening trend during the past week. A continuous price decline has been observed in both the local ferromolybdenum and ferrovanadium markets, with few deals concluded mainly due to the continuing sluggishness in the domestic steel market. It is thought that the special alloys markets are unlikely to emerge from their current difficulties in the short term.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Ferromolybdenum | Mo60 | Jinzhou | 138,000 | -5,000 | 20,235 | -733 |
Ferrovanadium | V50 | Panzhihua | 101,000 | -2,000 | 14,809 | -293 |
China's domestic ferromolybdenum market has continued its softening trend over the past week. The mainstream quotations in the market are at RMB 136,000-140,000/mt ($19,941-20,528/mt), down RMB 5,000/mt ($733/mt) week on week, while market quotations for domestic origin ferromolybdenum concentrate (45 percent grade) are at RMB 2,050/mtu ($301/mtu), down RMB 100/mtu ($15/mtu) week on week. International prices have also trended downwards, with the current prices of bottled molybdenum oxide at $15.75-16.25/lb and with the European delivery prices of 60 percent Mo at $36.8-38/kg Mo.
With the significant price declines observed in China's domestic ferromolybdenum market, some steelmakers have started to make purchases, but at rather lower prices. China's leading mills have significantly lowered their published prices for July, with a sharp price decline observed in molybdenum-added steel, thus putting great pressure on the ferromolybdenum market. It is heard that most domestic mills have lowered their purchases prices to below RMB 135,000/mt ($19,795/mt) and have sharply reduced their purchase volumes.
The Chinese ferrovanadium market has also trended down during the past week. Domestic quotations of ferrovanadium (50 percent) are now in the range of RMB 100,000-102,000/mt ($14,663-14,956/mt), down RMB 2,000/mt ($293/mt) week on week, with vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) standing at RMB 92,000-93,000/mt ($13,490-13,636/mt), down RMB 2,000-3,000/mt ($293-440/mt) week on week. Meanwhile, in the international market, quotations of vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) are at $7.2-7.6/lb, while market quotations of ferrovanadium (V70-80) have been at €31-33/kg.
Currently, activity is slow in the local ferrovanadium market. It is heard that, due to their generally high-priced ferrovanadium inventories, producers and traders are not in any rush to sell their materials and have switched to wait-and-see mode. It is thought that the prices of ferrovanadium may decline further in the coming period, due to the weak volume of transactions and the situation of oversupply in the market.