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Initial discussions with participants have indicated a growing need for greater coverage of the ferro-silicon import market in Japan owing to increased spot liquidity in the Asian import market. Japan is one of the largest ferro-silicon importers in Asia.
Sources also said that such an assessment would help provide a more comprehensive view of the market, because declining Chinese exports in recent years has meant that the China ferro-silicon export price is slowly becoming less representative of the market as a whole.
For example, Chinese exports of ferro-silicon across all grades totaled 257,206 tonnes in 2020, a decrease of 27.5% on a year-on-year basis. Similarly, total Chinese exports were at 354,911 tonnes in 2019, down by 38.6% from 578,123 tonnes in 2018.
The decline in China-origin shipments is primarily due to the imposition of an export tariff in 2008, which has steadily made Chinese material less competitive and allowed suppliers in Russia and Malaysia to increase their market share, according to participants.
Fastmarkets therefore proposes to launch a weekly price assessment for ferro-silicon 75% Si min imported into Japan to supplement our existing coverage of the Asian seaborne ferro-silicon 75% Si min market, namely the ferro-silicon 75% Si min export, fob China assessment.
The specifications for the price assessment are as follows:
Assessment: Ferro-silicon 75% Si min, cif Japan, $/tonne Quality: Lump. Si 75-80%; Al 2% max; P 0.05% max; S 0.02% max; C 0.2% max; size: 10-50mm Quantity: 100 tonnes Location: cif Japan Unit: $ per tonne Payment terms: Cash or letter of credit Publication: Weekly. Wednesday 2-3pm London time
The consultation period for this proposal will end one month from the date of this pricing notice, on Thursday May 27. Subject to market feedback, the price will launch on Wednesday June 2.
To provide feedback on this proposal, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter, please contact Jessica Long by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Jessica Long re: the ferro-silicon 75% Si min, cif Japan’
To see all Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.metalbulletin.com/prices/pricing-methodology.