Source: General Administration of Customs' Website
According to the Customs statistics, in January-October this year, China imported the chromium ore of 6.29 million tons, accounting for USD 2.52 billion and increasing by 26.2% and 1.1-fold respectively as compared with those at the same period last year (similarly hereinafter); the average import price thereof was USD 400.9 /ton, increasing by 62.5 %. In October, China imported the chromium ore of 613,000 tons, accounting for USD 270 million and increasing by 34.5%and 1.1-fold respectively. The average import price was USD 440.6/ton, increasing by 54.9 % year on year and decreasing by 9.5 % at link relative ratio.
Main features of China's chromium ore import from January to October this year:
I. The ordinary trade is deemed as the major import mode. In January-October this year, China imported the chromium ore of 5.811 million tons via the ordinary mode, increasing by 19.5% and accounting for 92.4 % of China's chromium ore import in total at the same period.
II. The import is mainly from South Africa, Turkey and Oman. In January-October this year, China imported the chromium ore of 2.382 million tons, increasing by 54.5%; 1.09 million tons from Turkey, increasing by 20.2%; 726,000 tons from Oman, increasing by 1.8 times. The import from the above three countries accounted for 66.7% of China's chromium ore import in total at the same period. Also, China imported the chromium ore of 525,000 tons from India, drop by 38 %.
III. The state-owned enterprises are the main importers of the chromium ore. In January-October this year, China's state-owned enterprises imported the chromium ore of 3.918 million tons, increasing by 25.7 % and accounting for 62.3% of China's chromium ore import in total at the same period.
China urgently demands for the chromium minerals. In 2007, the domestic chromite output only accounted for 200,000 tons, which were just equivalent to 3% of all the chromium minerals demanded by the whole country. For the past years, the demand for the stainless steel has been marked increased in such industries as automobile, locomotive, light rail and shipbuilding. Also, the stainless steel of around 1 million tons are added each year for such fields as petrochemical, power sector, home appliances, IT and communication, so that the sustainable growth of China's stainless steel output also increases the demands for chromium minerals. However, currently, the major exporting countries try to control the export of the chromium minerals resources. For instance, After fully implementing the export quotas and lowest price limit for the export of the chromium ore last year, the Indian government improved the export tax of USD 75/ton thereof in this March. South Africa imports the ferrochrome rather than the chromium ore to China, so as to improve the added value. Also, the export tax of USD 50/ton will be added. Due to such factors as export tax, China's average import price of the chromium minerals has been obviously raised since this year.
It shall be mentioned that the ferrochrome industry features high energy consuming and heavy pollution. The electricity of 4000kw/hr and the coke of 400kg are consumed for producing the ferrochrome of 1 ton. Also, the chromium pollutant with severe toxicity will be produced during the processing, so as to obviously press the pressure on the energy consumption and environmental protection.
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