The European benchmark ferrochrome price has been settled at 118 cents/lb for the first quarter of 2018, down 21 cents/lb or 15.1% from Q4 2017, a source close to the South African producer Merafe said Friday.
The price is for charge chrome generally of 48%-52% chrome content, produced in South Africa, but is used as the basis for long-term contracts of other types of high-carbon ferrochrome not just in Europe but in Asia and the US too.
Merafe has a 20.5% stake in the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture in South Africa -- the world's largest ferrochrome producer -- with the rest held by Glencore.
