Western Sanctions16 Apr 2022 14:16
https://www.fastmarkets.com/insights/multi-billion-dollar-metal-markets-fork-as-russia-pursues-assault-on-ukraine
Russia’s largest single trading partner for ferro-alloys in 2021 was the US, which imported almost $500-million’s worth of the steelmaking raw materials, UN Comtrade figures show. This dwarfs that of other countries, where imports from Russia are still considerable. Europe’s two largest steel producers, Germany and Italy, for example, bought alloys worth $83 million and $22 million respectively. India bought alloys worth $46 million in 2021 and, in 2020, China $19 million.
The spreads between ferro-chrome prices in the US and Europe and prices in China have also ballooned out to multi-year highs. This has been driven in part by a slowdown in demand in China on its continued zero-Covid policy and increased domestic production, but it is reasonable to ask whether increasing availability of units from Russia also plays a role. China imports ferro-chrome, ferro-titanium and ferro-vanadium from Russia, though it is largely self-sufficient in ferro-silicon.