According to China's Customs Statistics, exports and imports of ferroalloys in April 2012 as well as during the first four months of 2012 were as per the tables attached hereto.

Exports in April 2012 were 57,164 tonnes, slightly up from March 2012, but still lower than the last year's monthly average level of 77,907 tonnes, while imports were sharply down to 138,052 tonnes, comparable to 136,717 tonnes as recorded in October 2011. The slump in imports is mostly because of the prolonged stagnant economy forcing ferroalloy industries to cut output and to substantially refrain from imports.

Exports
Exports in April 2012 were 57,164 tonnes, up by 7% MoM from March 2012 in a steady recovery from the drop in January of 2012.

Details of exports by item are, high carbon ferromanganese (C>2%): 290 tonnes (up by 52% MoM), medium low carbon ferromanganese (C=<2%): 1,402 tonnes (up by 64.1% MoM), ferrosilicon (Si>55%): 36,231 tonnes (up by 8.3% MoM), silicomanganese: 447 tonnes (down by 15.5% MoM), high carbon ferrochrome (C>4%): 4,121 tonnes (up by 31.4% MoM), low carbon ferrochrome (C=<4%): 185 tonnes (down by 33.2% MoM) and ferromolybdenum: 21 tonnes (down by 41.7% MoM). Ferrosilicon and high carbon ferrochrome contributed to the month's recovery.

Imports
Imports in April were 138,052 tonnes, down by 31.7% to an even lower level than in January and February. Decreases in the imports of ferrosilicon and silicomanganese besides low carbon ferromanganese and high carbon ferrochrome were the reasons of the sharp drop. Especially the drop in high carbon ferrochrome was notably large, by about 53,000 tons compared to March. Imports from all the major sources, South Africa, Kazakhstan, India and Russia declined. If the drop in the imports in April was all replaced by domestically made high carbon ferrochrome in stock for the month's consumption, there is a possibility that excess materials in the market were trimmed to a certain extent accordingly.

Source - TEX Report Limited

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