- Overview
- The Euro zone sovereign debt problems continue to threaten international capital and stock markets, leading to slow global economic recovery although the steadily falling unemployment rate in the US to around 8.4% in January and the recovering housing market could be a boost to the steel and construction industry.
- However, due to over capacity in the steel industry and related industry with related anti-dumping duty on Chinese steel pipes by the US administration, there exist great difficulties in 2011. Chinese crude steel output reached 683 million tons in the year, increased by 8.92%, but the profit remained at very low level. Many steel enterprises sustained massive loss. Due to the recession of steel industry, ferroalloys enterprises suffer from dual pressure of production cost increase and low demand. Impacted by many factors from market and policies, what is the likely trajectory of ferroalloys industry development in 2012?
- Molybdenum: Demand for molybdenum did not improve as expected in 2011 as prices were always in decline, and now it remains to be seen whether it can turn around in 2012. How will the new molybdenum mines projects affect the market in the coming two years? What kind of new fields will apply molybdenum?
- Vanadium: Until lately, vanadium market has been running on a downtrend with continually falling prices and weak demand in the past year as more than 80% of end-user requirements for 2011 were concluded on long-term contract and mostly directly between producers and users. Although there has been some improved activity in the spot market since late January, is this little improvement sustainable for the rest of the year or half-year? With upgrading of steel products, what challenges do the vanadium products face? The sector is still new relatively new to new applications like vanadium battery which many experts have argued can promote the revival of vanadium industry in the following two years.
- Ferrotitanium: The market in 2011 was very sluggish as stainless steel mills largely operated below full capacity and with few tenders held. And despite some momentum in the last two weeks, it appears to be losing steam again although at a slow rate. On the other hand, titanium sponge market seems relatively stable and firm with higher price potential due to expected strong demand the first half-year.
- Ferrosilicon: The global ferrosilicon market began to slow since the second half of 2011. As the main producer and leading global exporter of the material, Chinese ferrosilicon market kept slow in 2011 with a sluggish export market. Main issues of concern are how the energy saving policies will impact the production of ferrosilicon in 2012; producers’ dilemma on the weak steel market as well as effects of suspected well-organized smuggling network on the overall sector.
- Manganese alloys: With increasing output of Chinese steel product, the output of manganese alloys is also increasing greatly. However, there is still the serious challenge of excess output capacity due to lagging demand. Policy changes, electricity supply and weather continue to impact on supply decisions by producers. How do the producers face the various challenges in the market in 2012? Where do the prices of raw materials like imported manganese ore to go?
- Chromium alloys: Chromium alloys market experiences a gloomy trend in 2011, and it is still uncertain when it is going to turn around let alone expect a strong rebound in the current year. In the same vein, Chinese smelters’ margins have reduced in the fierce competition of winning more market share of the weak end-user orders and the prospect in the current Chinese stainless steel market is a topical issue among industry participants.
- Ferroboron: How is the development of Chinese boric acid industry in recent years and how much does the raw material imports impact upon the Chinese ferroboron industry? Let’s get information and analysis from Chinese ferroboron producers and know their anticipations in 2012.
- Ferrophosphorus: Chinese ferrophosphorus export decreased significantly because of weak demand in 2011. Will the global economic situation continue to affect the demand for ferrophosphorus in 2012? And what’s the status and future of Chinese phosphorus industry?
- Ferronickel: The increasing Chinese ferronickel output is affecting global nickel market movement. Increasing number of stainless steel plants now start to purchase ferronickel as materials in order to lower production cost. How can ferronickel enterprises survive the unstable nickel market? Meanwhile, lateritic nickel ore import increased further in 2011. How can lateritic nickel ore customers obtain cheap raw materials? How can ferronickel enterprises, lateritic nickel ore traders and stainless steel mills altogether create an all win Situation?
- Ferroniobium: There was a roughly balance between demand and supply in the ferroniobium market in 2011. However, there was fierce competition behind the seemingly quiet market. Major producers in the world claimed to expand their output, while consortiums from Japan and Korea and the five Chinese state-owned enterprises gradually became shareholders of CBMM. At the beginning of 2012, worldwide nonferrous metals prices went up influenced by U.S.'s interest rate policy. Free market and government’s policy interact on each other. Will supply meet the increasing demand continuously this year?
- Ferrotungsten: High-speed industry showed weak demand for ferrotungsten in 2011, and the price of ferrotungsten moved up greatly according to higher raw materials price. The global economic situation remains fairly modest in terms of growth forecast, and ferrotungsten market experts will give more insight into the what to expect in the current year.
- Asian Metal is going to hold "Ferroalloys Summit 2012" on Jun 20-22, 2010 in Hangzhou. We will provide an effective platform for producers, traders and end users of ferroalloys to discuss the above problems and exchange ideas.
- Leading International experts, scholars from relevant sectors and decision-making official of government will be invited to the summit to discuss the topics of “Economy development strategy in the coming five years in China; market progress for ferroalloys both at home and abroad; market trend for raw materials and downstream products. The conference will be one of the largest and most extensive in 2011.
