Glencore says ferrochrome recovered to pre-pandemic levels
Ferrochrome supply from South Africa, India and Europe recovered to pre-pandemic levels, resulting in global production growth of 15%year-on-year. This supply growth was met by a strong increase in global stainless steel melt rates, with Indonesian stainless steel production increasing by 87% year-on-year to5mt, becoming the world’s second largest producer.
Vanadium demand recovered to prepandemic levels with stronger carbon steel markets absorbing excess inventory. The aerospace demand sector remained weak as previously noted.
FERROALLOYS ASSETS
Attributable ferrochrome production of 1,468,000 tonnes was 439,000 tonnes (43%) higher than 2020 mainly due to the South African national lockdown in the prior year, and strong operating performance.
Around 40-50% of Glencore’s operational CO2 footprint relates to the smelter portfolio. The
South African national lockdown in 2020resulted in significantly lower production and emissions from the Ferroalloys business.
These tonnes and emissions were largely restored in 2021. Power supplies for the smelter assets are almost exclusively from national grids and therefore dependent on the mix of fuel sources in the respective jurisdiction. Scope 1 smelter emissions also include reductants that are hard to abate.
