40% of China's FerroVanadium production offline (BMO)Coronavirus Disruption Boosts Vanadium, Thermal-Coal Prices -- Market Talk
2020-02-07 15:58:28.538 GMT
(Dow Jones) -- 1558 GMT - Oil, copper and iron-ore prices are back under
pressure from the outbreak of coronavirus in China and beyond. But some
commodity markets have bucked the trend because measures to contain the
epidemic have disrupted production, notes Colin Hamilton of BMO Capital
Markets. One such raw material is vanadium, a rare metal used in the chemistry
industry and jet engines. Prices have risen because output has "fallen
dramatically" in China, Hamilton says. That is "relatively significant given
China accounted for around 70% of global production in 2019." Hamilton
estimates that 40% of Chinese ferrovanadium production is offline as well as
25% of vanadium nitride production. Thermal-coal prices have also benefited,
as Australia's quarantine rules on ships curtail exports of the fuel to China.
(
joe.wallace@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires