Felman Trading denies claims of undercutting silicomanganese market

Dec 01, 2010 | 01:18 PM |

Felman Trading Inc. denies claims by market participants that the silicomanganese and ferromanganese company has been selling at a discount over the past year in order to grab market share.

Sources say the move has driven down prices and squeezed other producers, but Felman asserts it has done nothing to harm the market and has no interest in doing so.

Felman Trading, the Miami, Fla.-based marketing arm of Felman Production Inc., Letart, W.Va., has reportedly been doing contract business at a discount since the end of its joint marketing agreement with Glencore International AG late last year, market participants told AMM.

"In 2010 they introduced a discount to the (market) for silicomanganese," one U.S.-based trader said.

The company flatly denies market participants' claims that it has been selling at a discount of between 5 and 10 percent.

"I am officially informing you that your information about a 10-percent discount to the index is not correct and is not true," Vladyslav Mikhyeyev, general manager of Felman Trading, told AMM. "We are not going to do anything harmful to the market. Our concern is profit."....