According to the Association of Ukrainian Ferroalloy Producers' (UkrFA), Ukraine's ferroalloy industry has started to see signs of recovery, as in August, after a sustained period of decline, the world ferroalloys market has registered its first signs of improvement, with average prices in Europe unexpectedly rising by more than €100/mt from July's level to €880-890/mt.
The UkrFA notes that Ukrainian ferroalloys producers have hardly any metal inventories in their warehouses, and, despite working at maximum allowable capacity, are unable to keep up with all orders. According to the UkrFA, one Ukrainian ferroalloy producer, the name of which has not been disclosed, has a full order book for September and will sell silicomanganese for €850/mt in October and will probably use that price as the benchmark for the whole fourth quarter.
According to data issued for the first seven months of 2009, Ukraine registered a 58 percent decrease year on year in its ferroalloys production to 436,800 mt.
In January-July 2009, Ukraine's silicomanganese output decreased by 52.5 percent to 313,400 mt, its ferromanganese production went down by 82.8 percent to 47,800 mt, its ferrosilicon output dropped by 30 percent to 67,800 mt, while its metallic manganese production increased by 85.7 percent to 7,200 mt, all compared to the same period of last year.