The challenges being faced by ferrochrome producers in South Africa are drastically impacting the industry. From being one of the most cost-competitive producers for so long, the national power shortages are leading to both higher tariff rates and utilisation limits, preventing full-capacity production and substantially increasing costs for South African producers – a situation exacerbated by the steady appreciation of the Rand.CRU says “industry stakeholders are now wondering how long these challenges will continue, what opportunities will arise for others and who will capitalise, and how increasing interest in UG2 might change things – questions which increase the importance for independent and detailed analysis of the years ahead.” In this light CRU is introducing its new Ferrochrome Market Outlook and Ferrochrome Cost Service.The two services – which can be subscribed to individually or together – draw upon the expertise of CRU’s London and Beijing offices to provide an examination of the global ferrochrome industry, in order to answer the main questions facing the industry through the coming years.

The Ferrochrome Market Outlook service provides two full reports per year (published in March and September) analysing supply, demand, trade and prices through the next five years for all major countries and regions.

The Ferrochrome Cost Service comprises two full reports (published in December and June) examining production costs at all major producers worldwide, together with a representative sample of Chinese producers. Providing broken-down costs by producer, clients can accurately benchmark different producers as well as review CRU’s analysis of key cost trends in both the current year and the year ahead.