LONDON — Ferrosilicon prices continued to rise Feb. 15 after buyers were surprised by the impact on stocks of recent production cuts.
Material traded at €1,090 to €1,140 ($1,456 to $1,523) per tonne, delivered Europe, up from €1,080 to €1,120 at the beginning of the month, when prices had risen by €10 at the high end of the range.
“Ferrosilicon has gone up and is still going up. It has caught a lot of people by surprise—us included,” one trader told AMM sister publication Metal Bulletin. “We’ve been trying to buy, but it’s very difficult. You can’t get into this market now; we missed it.”
Demand from the steel sector remains subdued, but mills are still consuming and prices have gone up due to low stocks, one producer source told Metal Bulletin.
The tightening supply follows a wave of ferrosilicon production cuts in recent months at producers, including Norway’s Elkem ASA and China’s Erdos Metallurgy Group Co. Ltd.
Prices started to strengthen in late January, hitting €1,080 to €1,100 after holding at €1,060 to €1,100 since Nov. 23.
Ferrosilicon prices in the United States were trading at 92 to 95 cents per pound ($2,028 to $2,094 per tonne) last week
(amm.com, Feb. 15).
A version of this article was first published by AMM sister publication Metal Bulletin.