Ferrovanadium markets drop in Europe and low in others
2005-09-14 10:19:16 【Print】
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 14 Sep 05 – As ferrovanadium markets drop in Europe with FeV 80%min selling offer at USD55-56/kg V d.p. in warehouse Rotterdam for prompt delivery, it is trading low in Australia, India and the US at USD45/kg V CIF Australian port, USD49-50/kg V CIF Indian port (for FeV 50%min) and USD46/kg V respectively, reports Asian Metal.
In Europe, the mainstream selling offer goes for USD55-56/kg V d.p. in warehouse Rotterdam down from USD61/kg V d.p. last week for prompt delivery. “Though the price has dropped, the market is still active, and I presume it will go up again,” said a Luxembourg-based trader. The trader, with about 300t quarterly sales volume, is presently negotiating for ferrovanadium from Tula in Russia to supply a Spanish consumer. The negotiation price range was not disclosed for business reasons.
The market opened in Australia with ferrovanadium 80%min selling offer at USD45/kg V Australian port, and a major steel mill in Australia with 1.2million tons production capacity has just received 170t offer from South Africa. “We have just received 170t ferrovanadium 80% offer from South Africa at below USD40/kg V Australian port,” said an executive in the company, “but we are still considering it as the South African company offered such a low price to win back business.”
In India, producers complained of low trading activity. “We quote ferrovanadium 50%min at USD49-50/kg V CIF Indian port,” lamented a producer, “ but we have not put pen to paper on a kilogram of ferrovanadium this week.” “I am tempted to believing,” concluded the producer, “that the end-users have already booked enough material at USD43/kg V for current consumption.”
In the US, ferrovanadium is reportedly being offered for sale, mainstream at USD46/kg V. “Compared to Europe,” observed a US-based trader, there are no big orders here yet, and this could be responsible for the low activity and price.” The trader, last week, took delivery of about 40t of ferrovanadium contracted at USD42/kg V a week earlier.
On the future market trend in Europe, a German foundry owner concluded: “The market price could move up to around USD75-80/kg V by the end of October and keep stable at 80s when those inventories that were obtained at high costs months ago would have been consumed.”
