The document discusses low-carbon ferrochrome, including its production process, uses, and market factors like supply, demand, and price fluctuations. It analyzes the market for low and medium carbon ferrochrome, describing the three-stage Perrin production process. Demand initially dipped with the AOD stainless steel process but is now growing due to factors like increased carbon steel production. Both rising demand and increasing production costs are impacting ferrochrome prices. Major producers include South Africa, where production costs have historically been lower.

1. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Refined Ferro Chrome
Analysis Of The Market For
Low & Medium Carbon Ferro Chrome
Prabhash Gokarn
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2. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Presentation Structure
• Analysis of Refined FeCr 3
• Use of Low Carbon Ferro Chrome 5
• Production Process 7
• Supply Demand Scenario 10
• Impacting On Price 17
• Rising demand & rising cost 18
• Main Producers 22
• Specifications of Ref FeCr 26
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3. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Analysis of Refined FeCr
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4. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Low-carbon ferro-chrome product range
Cr C Si P S N Co Mn V
Low-carbon ferro-chrome:
LCFeCr 68- 0.03- max max max - - - -
73% 0.10% 1.5% 0.03% 0.02%
68- 0.015- max max max - - - -
73% 0.03% 1.5% 0.03% 0.02%
LN LCFeCr Min max max max max max - - -
69% 0.05% 0.3% 0.025% 0.01% 0.02%
High-chrome, low carbon ferro-chrome:
HCr LCFeCr min max max max max max max
(min 76.5% 76.5% 0.035% 1.5% 0.025% 0.01% 0.05% 0.03% - -
Cr)
HCr LCFeCr min max max max max max max max max
(min 82% Cr) 82- 0.05% 1.5% 0.02% 0.01% 0.10% 0.02% 0.5% 0.3%
88%
Low-carbon ferro-chrome, nitrided, molten
LCFeCr N ca. max max max max 3-4% - - -
65% 0.10% 1.5% 0.03% 0.02%
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5. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Use of Low Carbon Ferro Chrome
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6. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
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7. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Production Process
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8. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Low-carbon ferro-chrome is generally produced by the
three-stage Perrin process.
In the first stage, ferrosilicochrome is produced in a
submerged arc furnace, either by direct melting of ore,
quartz and coke, or by smelting high-carbon ferro-chrome
with quartz and coke. The ferrosilicochrome produced
grades 25-36%Cr, 42-48%Si and around 0.05%C.
A lime-ore melt is then produced from chrome ore and
burnt lime in an open arc furnace.
Finally, the ferro silico chrome is reacted with the molten
lime-ore and the silica reduces chrome oxide to yield low-
carbon ferro-chrome.
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9. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Three-
Three-stage Perrin process for LC FeCr
2
1
3
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10. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Supply Demand Scenario
Low Carbon FeCr
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11. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
LC FeCr : AOD Process saw LC FeCr demand plunge
AOD
process
for
Stainless
Steel
Prabhash Gokarn ………….. and now growing
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12. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
LC FeCr : Now Increasing - reasons
Based on the trends in finished steel production, the largest markets for
chromium in carbon steel are China, Japan, USA, Russia and Germany.
The use of low-carbon ferro-chrome is higher in carbon steel than in
other types of steel.
The content of sulphur in high-carbon ferro-chrome is too high to enable
its use in AISI 10 series carbon steel.
The growing demand for clean steel is reflected in higher consumption
of high-purity low-carbon ferro-chrome.
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13. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
LC FeCr : Initially Dipped and Now Increasing
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14. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
LC & MC FeCr Supply Demand Gap
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15. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Demand Comes Mainly From Countries
Making High Performance Alloy Steels
Others
Asia 7%
8%
Europe USA
27% 58%
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16. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Demand Comes Mainly From Sectors
Using High Performance Alloy Steels
Tools
2%
Oil & gas
Aerospace
2%
75%
Automotive
6%
Land-based turbines
15%
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17. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Impacting On Price of
Low Carbon FeCr
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18. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
LC FeCr Steep Rise in Prices
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19. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Low carbon Ferro Chrome Supply Scene
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20. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Caused by both rising demand for
LC FeCr and rising production cost
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21. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Production Costs For Ferro-chrome
Energy and raw material costs together, make up a large proportion of the
cost of LC ferro-chrome production, varying locally with power tariffs and the
availability of raw materials. Efficiency varies with ore grade, operating
conditions and the production process. Therefore the location of a ferro-
chrome plant is a trade-off between the supply and cost of raw materials and
electrical energy.
The results of an Outokumpu study published by USGS in 2006 suggest that
production costs in Europe are split approximately 30% chrome ore,40%
electricity, 20% reducing agent and 10% other costs.
South African producers have traditionally had some of the lowest production
costs for ferro-chrome worldwide, because of the advantages of abundant
chrome ore reserves, locally available reductants, and competitive labour and
power costs.
South African energy prices have historically been very low in comparison to
other ferro-chrome producing countries but increases in electricity costs
(13.3% in 2008; 27.5% in 2009. 20-25% in 2010.
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22. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Main Producers of L C FeCr
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23. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Production of ferro-silico-chrome
Production of ferro-silico-chrome, used as an intermediate product in the
production of low-carbon ferro-chrome, by leading industry commentators.
Production, broken down by country is given below. Production has increased
year on year, following the pattern of low-carbon ferro-chrome production.
Production of ferro-silico-chrome, 2002 to 2008 (t)
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008e
Brazil 10,522 8,151 11,560 16,005 9,828 12,943 13,000
China 43,492 97,552 105,000 48,000 35,000 38,700 39,000
Kazakhstan 75,345 86,794 78,850 84,885 104,000 126,000 156,000r
Russiae 3,328 6,121 8,483 74,150 92,404 97,915 98,000
Turkey 7,245 6,715 5,560 6,695 7,310 6,624 6,500
Zimbabwe - - - 2,117 1,023 3,097 3,000
Total 139,932 205,333 209,453 231,852 249,565 285,279 315,500
World ferro-silico-chrome production: Comparison of available data,
2002 to 2008 (t)
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Optimistic 139,932 205,333 209,453 231,852 249,565 285,279 315,500
ICDA 133,884 205,489 209,453 232,530 246,958 285,279 252,740
BCG 224,421 274,200 311,245 248,280 283,959 … …
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24. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
LC & MC FeCr Production By Country
World: Production of low-carbon and medium-carbon ferro-chrome by country, 2001-2008
(kt)
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008e
Brazil 7.5 4.5 10.4 19.1 15.4 21.2 13.2 10.0
China 79.0 100.7 111.5 103.0 174.0 184.5 235.8 200.0
Germany 19.3 20.0 18.3 24.9 22.7 26.7 22.0 22.0
India - 1 - 1 - - - - - -
Japan2 7.7 4.3 5.8 7.8 10.4 9.7 11.8 11.0
Khaz 56.7 59.8 68.6 71.6 71.7 77.0 77.0 142.0r
Russia/Ukraine 148.6 142.9 181.2 196.6 216.6 196.5 219.4 150.0
Slovakia 0.6 0.8 - 1 - 1 - - - -
South Africa 106.1 109.7 101.7 110.5 76.0 76.0 91.0 90.0
Turkey 9.3 11.2 10.8 8.7 10.5 12.1 10.9 10.0
Zimbabwe 6.3 - - - - - - -
Total 441.1 453.9 508.3 542.2 597.3 603.7 681.1 635.0
% total FeCr 10 9 9 8 9 9 8 8
production
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25. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
LC FeCr by country
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008e
China Russia South Africa Kazakhstan Others
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26. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Backup
Specifications of Refined FeCr
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27. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Specifications for low-carbon ferro-chrome (%)
Low-carbon Low- nitrogen High- chromium Nitrided, molten
Cr (min) 68-73 68-73 69 76.5 82-88 ~65
C (max) 0.03-0.10 0.015-0.03 0.05 0.035 0.05 0.10
Si (max) 1.5 1.5 0.3 1.5 1.5 1.5
P (max) 0.03 0.03 0.025 0.025 0.020 0.03
S (max) 0.02 0.02 0.010 0.010 0.01 0.02
N (max) … … 0.020 0.05 0.10 3-4
Co (max) … … … 0.03 0.020 …
Mn (max) … … … … 0.5 …
V (max) … … … … 0.3 …
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28. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
ASTM specifications for low carbon chromium ferroalloys (%)
Grade Cr C Si S P N
max max max max
Low-carbon ferro-chrome
A 60-67 0.025 1-8 0.025 0.03 0.12
B 67-75 0.025 1 0.025 0.03 0.12
C 67-75 0.05 1 0.025 0.03 0.12
D 67-75 0.75 1 0.025 0.03 0.12
Vacuum low-carbon ferro-chrome
E 67-72 0.02 2 0.03 0.03 0.05
F 67-72 0.01 2 0.03 0.03 0.05
G 63-68 0.05 2 0.03 0.03 5-6
Nitrogen-bearing ferro-chrome 62-70 0.1 1 0.025 0.03 1-5
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29. Low Carbon Ferro Chrome – Random Thoughts
Alloy Analysis
TYPICAL ANALYSES
TYPE OF ALLOY
% Cr %C %Si Cr:C Cr:Si
Special Low Carbon >90 <0.01 0.4 9 000 225
Low Carbon 55-68 0.05 0.7 1 200 85
Charge Chrome 50 7.5 3.5 7 15
Plasma Chrome 50-58 8.0 1.8 7 30
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