January 2012 | Ferro-alloys
First-quarter charge chrome not down as much as some thought: Ferro-chrome Highlights
First-quarter charge chrome contract prices settled lower, but high-carbon ferro-chrome spot market prices are now rising.
After holding steady at $1.20/lb in the fourth quarter of 2011, the first-quarter 2012 charge chrome benchmark price settled down $0.05/lb to $1.15/lb. This is consistent with MBR’s forecast of a decline up to $0.10/lb, and at just $0.05/lb was better than our worst case scenario.
While the first-quarter benchmark is about $0.10/lb lower than a year earlier, we believe that it could cap discounts offered in the very competitive market to around 20%, especially given that ferro-chrome demand began to improve at the onset of the New Year – earlier than we had expected. We did not originally expect that the global stainless steel market would show any appreciable improvement until closer to the end of the first quarter, but we are already...
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