Spot offers of 75%-Si ferrosilicon in Asia were rangebound Thursday, dampened by persistent weakness in demand though Chinese domestic prices stayed firm after the recent hike, sources said Thursday.
Sources added that competition from indirect shipments of Chinese material via Vietnam had continued to dampen direct export trades from China. Such shipments avoid the 25% export tax imposed by China.
Chinese 75%-Si ferrosilicon was kept at $990-1,000/mt FOB China Thursday, unchanged from last week, while the Japanese spot import price was assessed at $1,000-1,010/mt CIF Japan, flat from last week.
Three Chinese sources reckoned that the FOB offers should be around $1,100/mt, while two others said steady around $1,000/mt.
"Domestic offers have increased by around Yuan 500/mt ($76/mt) to Yuan 5,200/mt, delivered to Qingdao, Lianyungang and Tianjin. The supply remains tight due to production cuts on weak prices. Also, there was some pre-holiday buying, especially by the Chinese steel mills ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Based on the current domestic price, FOB offers should be around $1,100/mt. However, the overseas demand is very weak," said a north China-based trader.
China will be officially closed for a week from February 8 for the Lunar New Year. Some plants, however, will close up to two weeks prior to the official date to allow workers to head home for the spring festival reunion celebration. In addition, some plants will only resume work after the 15th day of the Lunar New Year.
A northwest China-based trader also heard that shipments could now go via the Tianjin port, which was more convenient than Qingdao and Lianyungang. Ferrosilicon has been labeled as a dangerous cargo and is not allowed to be shipped from Tianjin after the explosion there last year.
"Domestic offers are generally steady around Yuan 4,950/mt after the recent hike due to higher successful steel mill purchase tender prices and tight supply," the northwestern Chinese trader said.
Another northwest China-based trader said his export offers had remained at $1,120-1,130/mt FOB but added that he had no inquiries.
In Japan, sources said demand was not strong and reckoned import offers to be steady despite the higher Chinese domestic price.
"There's nothing in the market and I have no indication. In my opinion, there's no change (in the import offers). The demand in Japan is not strong now," said a Japanese trader.
Another Japanese trader added: "Many have bought their requirements for the January-March period before the Christmas holiday and have stocks on hand."
The first Japanese trader agreed and added that end users' next purchase for April-June needs would probably be at end-February.
