Steel mills have high enthusiasm for production, boosting demand for ferroalloysDue to environmental restrictions, production of ferroalloys on the supply side has decreased, but demand from steel mills on the demand side is strong. Zhou Keqing, the Marketing Department Director of the Supply and Marketing Center of Inner Mongolia Junzheng Energy Chemical Co., Ltd., further introduced that recently, steel plant procurement personnel have personally gone to iron alloy enterprises to urge orders, and the tight supply has caused iron alloy prices to soar It is understood that the above phenomenon not only occurs in the northwest region, but also exists nationwide. The bidding price for manganese and silicon at Fujian Sanming Iron and Steel in August has been finalized at 7100 yuan/ton, an increase of 2112 yuan/ton from July. In addition, the August manganese silicon bidding price of Pangang was 7520 yuan/ton, and the August manganese silicon bidding price of Shaanxi Hanzhong Iron and Steel was 7400 yuan/ton, both of which have increased compared to July Steel mills raise raw material procurement prices, but what about their own production Due to the rise in steel prices and improved profits for steel mills, they have been expanding production since March. According to the data of the World Steel Association, in June, the crude steel output of Chinese Mainland was 69.47 million tons, up 1.7% year on year. The global crude steel output after deducting China was 66.25 million tons, down 1.6% year on year, indicating that the operating rate of foreign steel mills continued to decline. During the summer break, the demand for foreign alloys shrank while the domestic demand remained strong In early July, a large-scale flood disaster occurred in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, affecting the production of some steel mills in Jiangsu, Hunan, and Hubei, and causing a slight decline in crude steel production. In mid July, despite increased production restrictions in Tangshan, the China Iron and Steel Association announced a daily crude steel production of 1.7637 million tons, with only a slight increase. July and August are the concentrated maintenance periods for domestic steel mills. After seasonal maintenance, the demand for ferroalloys will only increase and not decrease Li Juan said Mysteel data shows that from January to June 2016, the national production of ferrosilicon was 1.94 million tons, a decrease of 13% compared to the same period in 2015. During the same period, the national manganese silicon production was 3.28 million tons, a decrease of 35.7% compared to the same period in 2015 Manganese silicon production has significantly declined, and Mysteel manganese silicon analyst Cha Zuo Dong believes that this is mainly due to more shutdowns in the south. There are differences in construction between the north and the south, with the north being hot and the south being cold. Firstly, the electricity and metallurgical coke costs in the south are significantly higher than those in the north, with no cost advantage; The second reason is that the southern furnace type is relatively small and costly, while the northern furnace type can reduce costs incrementally It is precisely for the above reasons that ferrosilicon and manganese silicon futures have also become active. Among them, on July 22nd, the manganese silicon 1609 contract achieved a multi week limit up and a historical weekly large increase. It continued to rise by the limit up on July 25th and only recently experienced a pullback trend after taking profits from long positions Li Juan believes that before July, the basis of the manganese silicon 1609 contract was as large as 1200 yuan/ton and as small as -160 yuan/ton, with futures long-term pegged to spot prices. However, in late July, with the rise of spot prices, the basis expanded to 1500 yuan/ton and is currently around 1200 yuan/ton. In the environment of the 1609 contract approaching delivery month and tight supply, the demand for the return of futures and cash has led to a continuous increase in buying momentum. However, considering the chaotic pricing in the spot market and the significant difference in high and low transaction prices, the higher the futures price, the heavier the selling pressure on the market. Therefore, under the basis return demand, the bullish attitude towards futures prices is slightly cautious Xie Xu, a researcher at the Western Futures Investment Research Department, believes that in the long run, China's steel industry continues to reduce production capacity. For ferroalloy enterprises, downstream demand is difficult to boost, and the uncertainty lies in the supply side. Several large-scale ferroalloy enterprises are developing circular economy industrial chains, which have advanced production equipment and are not affected by environmental inspections. At present, all enterprises are operating at full capacity and have plans to further expand their production capacity. In addition, in mid August, the current round of environmental protection inspections will come to an end, and there is a possibility that the outdated production capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises will be restarted driven by profits. So, the main factors determining the fluctuation of ferroalloy prices are the strength of the overcapacity reduction policy and the increase in production driven by profits. Overall, with the support of low inventory, ferroalloy prices will maintain a strong trend

From January to August, China's steel exports increased by 26.5% year-on-year to 71.866 million tons, while the national crude steel production decreased by 2% year-on-year to 543.02 million tons during the same period, indicating a significant contraction in the domestic steel market. The Chinese stainless steel industry, which has high expectations, has seen a continuous reduction and shutdown of stainless steel enterprises since the beginning of the year, and some newly established enterprises have been forced to postpone production. The growth rate of stainless steel crude steel production in the first half of 2015 has dropped from double digits to 6.6%. Some institutions predict that China's stainless steel crude steel production may only increase by 2.5% to 22.15 million tons in 2015 The significant decline and volatility in the stock price of global commodity trading giant Glencore Xstrata Co., Ltd. indicates that global commodities such as iron ore have entered a downward price cycle. From this observation, the probability of the price of 150 ordinary carbon billets falling below 1500 yuan/ton in the future is increasing The contradiction between supply and demand of alloys has intensifiedFrom January to August, the national production of ferroalloys was 24.0586 million tons, a decrease of 1.55% compared to the same period in 2014;; The net import volume of ferroalloys in China was 1.651 million tons (2.387 million tons imported and 736000 tons exported), an increase of 96.5% compared to the net import volume of 840000 tons (1.714 million tons imported and 874000 tons exported) in the same period of 2014; The domestic supply of ferroalloys was 25.71 million tons, an increase of 8.5% compared to the same period in 2014, which is in stark contrast to the 2% decrease in crude steel production in the first eight months of this year Under the high tariff policy for the export of advantageous ferroalloy varieties in China, the export volume of ferrosilicon was 1.539 million tons in 2007, but only 313000 tons were exported in 2013. In the first eight months of 2015, the export volume was only 188000 tons. From January to August 2015, the export volume of ferroalloys in China continued to decline by 18.75% compared to the same period in 2014. It should be noted that there is an influx of imported ferroalloys from abroad. From January to August, China imported a total of 1.826 million tons of ferrochrome, an increase of 27.9% compared to the same period in 2014 and 69.1% compared to the same period in 2013; China has imported a total of 433600 tons of nickel iron, an increase of 151.66% compared to the same period in 2014 and an increase of 375.44% compared to the same period in 2013 Alloy prices are accelerating their declineSince the beginning of this year, all ferroalloy prices have continued to decline, and most have already fallen below the cost bottom line. Many ferroalloy companies have had to insist on losing production in order to maintain market share.. The high carbon ferrochrome price announced by Baosteel in October was 6000 yuan/ton, a decrease of 6.7% from 6400 yuan in October 2014, 14.2% from 6850 yuan in October 2013, 18.3% from 7100 yuan in October 2012, and 37.5% from 8250 yuan in October 2011. The price of silicon manganese determined by Hebei Iron and Steel Group in October fell to 4900 yuan/ton, a decrease of 97% from 9650 yuan/ton in October 2011; The price of ferrosilicon in October was around 5000 yuan/ton, a decrease of about 72% from 8600 yuan/ton in November 2011. Due to the London Metal Exchange (LME) nickel price dropping from $58000/ton to $10000/ton, Taiyuan Iron and Steel's confirmed September high nickel iron price is only 740 yuan/nickel

Although China and Europe recently agreed to seek a common solution to the steel trade issue, it seems that the EU has not fully kept its promise. On July 29th, the European Commission made a final ruling on anti-dumping investigations into threaded steel products originating in China, and decided to implement anti-dumping measures with tax rates ranging from 18.4% to 22.5%. The steel trade dispute, which was originally expected to calm down, is now engulfed in smoke The head of the Trade Remedy Investigation Bureau of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce stated in a statement that the European Commission's practice of raising the target profit margin for EU industries in this case is essentially artificially setting barriers, excluding Chinese products, and providing unreasonable protection for EU industries The person in charge bluntly stated that the global steel industry is currently facing difficulties in production and operation, and rebar, as a low-end steel product, is difficult to have a high industry profit margin. The European Commission's approach of significantly increasing industry target profit margins in accordance with EU industry requirements lacks reasonable basis, with the aim of raising anti-dumping tax rates on Chinese companies Public information shows that since 2014, the European Union has initiated a total of 15 trade remedy investigations against Chinese products, including 8 cases of steel products, accounting for more than half In fact, the product involved in this anti-dumping investigation - Chinese rebar - mainly meets the market demand of the UK and Ireland, has not caused any impact on the EU industry, and is conducive to promoting infrastructure construction in the local area during the economic recovery period The recently concluded G20 Trade Ministers' Meeting in Shanghai reiterated previous commitments to maintain the status quo and revoke existing protectionist measures, and extended the commitment until the end of 2018 It can only be said that the EU's decision has caused regret for the Chinese government and businesses. The EU should abide by its commitments made at international conferences and avoid sending wrong signals to the outside world It should be noted that the weak global economic recovery and the resulting sluggish demand are the fundamental reasons for the difficulties faced by the steel industry in various countries. Implementing trade protection measures does not help solve the problem, but instead will further impact the normal trade order and be detrimental to the economic development of the European Union and its member states As early as April this year, Zhang Ji, Assistant Minister of Commerce of China, used vivid metaphors in Belgium to explain the essence of the current global steel trade issues. He said that steel is the "food" of industry and the "food" of economic development. After the outbreak of the international financial crisis, the main problem now is that the side that eats "food" is "sick" and "has a bad appetite", appearing to have an excess of "food". All parties need to deeply analyze the situation, objectively analyze the causes and effects, increase trust and dispel doubts, and recognize that the shrinking global demand and economic downturn are the fundamental reasons for overcapacity in the steel and other industries This statement can be said to be the stance of the Chinese government in addressing the issue of global steel overcapacity. Trade protectionism can never truly turn hostility into friendship. The EU and relevant global economies can only continue to exert comprehensive measures from both the supply and demand sides, which is a good solution

Ferroalloys, in a broad sense, refer to a product that is added to molten iron as a deoxidizer, elemental additive, etc. during steelmaking to give the steel certain characteristics or meet certain requirements. An intermediate alloy composed of iron and one or more elements, mainly used in steel smelting. In the steel industry, all intermediate alloys used for steelmaking, regardless of whether they contain iron or not (such as silicon calcium alloys), are generally referred to as "ferroalloys". Traditionally, certain pure metal additives and oxide additives are also included

Deoxidizer. During the steelmaking process, oxygen is removed from the molten steel, and some ferroalloys can also remove other impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen from the steel Alloy additive. According to the composition requirements of the steel grade, alloy elements are added to the steel to improve its properties Fertility agent. Add iron water before casting cast iron to improve the crystalline structure of the casting Reducing agent, used for the production of other ferroalloys and non-ferrous metals by metal thermal reduction method; Alloy additives for non-ferrous alloys; It is also used in small quantities in the chemical industry and other industries Steel, all steel is a type of ferroalloy, which also makes ferroalloys widely used and in large quantities In high school textbooks, certain high carbon iron and all alloys containing iron are also referred to as ferroalloys