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It is reported that the negotiations with steel companies of Japan on price of low carbon ferrochrome for shipments in January to March 2009 quarter have been taken place from last week.
Reflecting a steep fall of price for low carbon ferrochrome in Europe, it will be inevitable to reduce price of low carbon ferrochrome for import into Japan under the quarterly contracts. Such regular suppliers as Russian producers proposed steel companies of Japan the price for carbon 0.1% maximum material on a level of 240 US cents per pound of chrome CIF.
However, in line with the world trend, it is still not known yet whether the negotiations are able to be settled on this price as proposed or not, and a possibility to conclude the price on a lower level than 240 US cents is foreseen.
For a reference, the prices of low carbon ferrochrome contracted with Japanese steel mills for shipments in October to December quarter of 2008 are in the range of 430 to 440 US cents per pounds of chrome CIF and, therefore, the price to be settled for the first quarter of 2009 is supposed to fall to nearly half of the prices for this quarter.
(Sourced from TEX Report Limited)