China surpass South Africa and India as top producer for another strategic metal

 Sahit Muja

Sahit Muja: China surpass South Africa and India as top producer for another strategic metal.

China produces nearly 95 percent of the world's rare earth materials and is the world's largest steel and stainless steel producer. Steel is the backbone of global economy.

China has become the world's largest ferrochrome production country. China has no chrome ore reserves and has become the world's largest ferrochrome producer.

Chrome ore is used in smelters to produce ferrochrome for stainless steel.Chrom ore is one of the most important industrial metals and there is no substitute. In the production of stainless steel there is no substitute for ferrochrome. China is the world's largest steel and stainless steel producer, accounting for half the world's output.

South Africa has about 75% of the world’s chrome reserves other producers are India, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe , Turkey, Albania, Finland, Oman, Iran Pakistan and Brazil.India’s steel ministry, concerned over the depleting reserves of chrome ore has called for a complete ban of its chrome ore exports. India now have depleted chrome ore reserves to 38 million tonnes

A export duty of $100 tone on raw chrome ore was proposed in South Africa earlier this year. During the first half of the year, chrome ore exports to China was about 4.5 million tons, of which 2 million tons from South Africa.

The global ferrochrome supply and demand grew by 2% in the six months in 2012. China’s ferrochrom supply grew by about 18% this year.
Albanian Minerals expect that ferrochrome supply and demand to grow by 5% each by the end of 2012.

Stainless steel is very important and there is no substitute for it. Stainless steel does not corrode, rust, or stain with water as ordinary steel does.
Stainless steels of various kinds are used in thousands of applications in manufacturing, construction, cutlery, sinks, saucepans, washing machine drums, microwave oven liners, razor blades, cladding, handrails, door and window fittings, street furniture, structural sections, reinforcement bar, lighting columns, lintels, masonry supports
exhaust systems, car trim/grilles, road tankers, ship containers, ships chemical tankers, refuse vehicles, pressure vessels, process piping, platform accommodation, cable trays, pipelines, surgical instruments, surgical implants, MRI scanners.

Catering equipment, brewing, distilling, food processing, water and sewage treatment, water tubing, and hot water tanks.
The price of chrome ore and ferrochrome, an essential ingredient in stainless steel, is set to jump.

Sahit Muja
President and CEO
Albanian Minerals
New York