The European contract price of ferrochrome for the first quarter of 2011 has been settled at $1.25 per pound, a fall of 4 percent, due to sluggish demand.
The news of the decline in the benchmark price came in a statement on Friday from South Africa's Merafe Resources Ltd , which is a joint venture partner of diversified mining group Xstrata Plc , one of the world's biggest producers of ferrochrome, a key alloy used in stainless steel.
The fall was in line with a forecast from one analyst who said stainless steel demand was disappointing in the second half and some ferrochrome producers were selling at discounted prices.
This week, Finland's stainless steel maker Outokumpu warned it would post an operating loss in the fourth quarter, showing the impact of overcapacity in the sector in Europe and sluggish customer demand.
Other listed producers of ferrochrome include Kazakh-based mining group ENRC , which along with Xstrata vies for the No. 1 ranking, and South Africa's International Ferro Metals. - Reuters