China’s special alloys market continues positive trend

Against the background of tight supplies of molybdenum concentrate in China and the rising trend in the international molybdenum alloys market, China's domestic molybdenum alloys market retained a strong performance in the past week. Meanwhile, the domestic vanadium alloys market was on the sluggish side during the week in question. Some traders tried to hike their quotation levels, but failed to achieve their goal on account of bearish demand. As a result, actual deal prices have remained at the same levels.

Over the past week the Chinese ferromolybdenum market has maintained its rising trend on the whole. By the end of last week, the mainstream prices of ferromolybdenum in Jingzhou were again up by RMB 7,000/mt ($1,025/mt) to the range of RMB 135,000-14,000/mt ($19,766-20,498/mt), while the market prices of molybdenum concentrate (45 percent) were around RMB 2,000/mtu ($293/mtu). Meanwhile, the European market also still retained its upward trend. European market prices of ferromolybdenum (60 percent Mo) are up by $1.5/kg Mo week on week to $30-32/kg Mo, while prices of molybdenum oxide in this market are at $12.5-13.1/lb, a climb of $0.5/lb week on week.

Last week, China's domestic molybdenum alloys market continued to be boosted by the increased quotations of molybdenum concentrate. With deals for imported molybdenum oxide in the Chinese market becoming increasingly rare, the domestic market again began to observe tight availability of supplies of molybdenum concentrate and molybdenum oxide in recent days. According to most ferromolybdenum producers, it is now very difficult for them to source raw materials even with relatively high prices. Meanwhile, anticipating that the rising trend will continue for a certain period of time, Chinese traders have been active in making purchases of ferromolybdenum, while the mills have made fewer purchases due to their sufficient stock levels. Looking at the current situation, upward momentum still exists in China's domestic molybdenum alloys market.

The Chinese ferrovanadium market was characterized by a general stability over the past week. Domestic quotations of ferrovanadium (50 percent) have remained unchanged in the range of RMB 103,000-105,000/mt ($15,081-15,373/mt), with vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) up by RMB 1,000/mt ($146/mt) to RMB 96,000-97,000/mt ($14,056-14,202/mt). Meanwhile, in the international market, quotations of vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) in Europe are constant at $5.2-6/lb, while market quotations of ferrovanadium (V70-80%) are up by €0.5/kg week on week to €28-28.6/kg.

In the domestic ferrovanadium market, neither mills nor traders have appeared to be interested in making purchases over the past week. At the beginning of the past week, some traders intentionally hiked their quotations, but only to see a slack trading performance, At present, purchase prices of domestic mills are around RMB 98,000-100,000/mt ($14,348-14,641/mt), which are obviously lower than the mainstream prices in the domestic market.