Local Chinese ferromolybdenum market remains stable

China's domestic molybdenum alloys market continued its stable trend over the past week while also indicating signs of increased demand. Meanwhile, the ferrovanadium market maintained its declining movement against the background of abundant spot materials in the market.

Last week China's domestic ferromolybdenum market was still characterized by a general stability, whereas a continuous climb was seen in prices in the international market. By the end of last week, the mainstream prices of ferromolybdenum in Jingzhou were still in the range of RMB 118,000-120,000/mt ($17,302-17,595/mt), while the market prices of molybdenum concentrate (45 percent) were around RMB 1,750/mtu ($257/mtu), both neutral week on week. Meanwhile, the international market kept going up in the past week. Currently, European market prices of ferromolybdenum (60 percent Mo) are up by $1.25/kg week on week to the level of $25.75/kg Mo, while prices of molybdenum oxide in this market are around $10-10.5/lb.

The domestic ferromolybdenum market still posted stable movement during the past week. Due to the relatively high price levels of both molybdenum oxide and molybdenum concentrate in the international market, the import market in China has been practically stagnant. In this context, the Chinese ferromolybdenum producers have been sourcing domestic raw materials for their production needs. Meanwhile, leading mills in China have recently made successive upward adjustments to their ex-factory prices; at the same time, their capacity utilization rates have also been on the increase, and this is expected to stimulate market demand for ferromolybdenum to a great extent. As a result, market players are generally bullish as regards the prospects for the domestic molybdenum alloys market in the coming period.

The Chinese vanadium alloys market maintained its previous softness over the past week, with market quotations still seeing a weak decline in various regions. At present, domestic quotations of ferrovanadium (50 percent) are down slightly by RMB 1,000/mt ($146/mt) to the range of RMB 95,000-98,000/mt ($13,909-14,348/mt), with vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) down to RMB 88,000-90,000/mt ($12,884-13,177/mt). Meanwhile, in the international market, quotations of vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) in Europe have remained constant at $3.8-4.5/lb, while market quotations of ferrovanadium (V70-80%) are up to €21.9-22.5/kg.

Last week, domestic demand in the ferrovanadium market remained weak, with scarce inquiries received by traders. Since the prices of vanadium pentoxide (98 percent flakes) are relatively high, ferrovanadium producers are not showing much interest in making purchases. Currently, some producers are only operating in order to fill orders already received, while others are even carrying out halts to their operations. Meanwhile, with abundant spot supplies on hand, domestic traders appear active in sales activities, with some of them even ready to sell their products at low prices. Looking at the current situation, there is still room available for further downward movement in China's domestic ferrovanadium market.