High-grade NPI Surges and Supply Elasticity to Miss Expectations, SMM Foresees

SHANGHAI, Aug. 1 (SMM) – Last week, high-grade NPI market staged a big price rally, and this helped improve profits at high-grade NPI plants. The output growth, however, is estimated to miss market expectations, Shanghai Metals Market projects. 

In Inner Mongolia, some EAF NPI producers are able to make slight profits at current price, and with the average weekly profit/loss ratio at the break-even point, SMM learns. But, most of EAF NPI producers in Inner Mongolia have begun to shift to producing high-carbon ferrochrome due to pessimistic outlook and frequent environmental checks. 

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At present, 7 producers are running normally in Inner Mongolia, and some of them plan to production shift after using up on-hand ore inventories, according to SMM sources.

Moreover, large high-grade NPI plants, such as Shandong Xinhai Technology, have run at high rates, and all these will restrict its elasticity of supply, which will miss previous market expectation. 

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SMM projects that China’s high-grade NPI output to hold largely unchanged in August on a monthly basis, with no room for big increases. 

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