1. Ferrosilicon Foreign Market
Global ferrosilicon production is mainly distributed in China, Brazil, Russia, Norway and Ukraine. The main consuming countries of ferro silicon are China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, the United States and some emerging economies countries. In 2011, the world’s ferro silicon alloy production was 7.823 million tons and the consumption was 7.9 million tons, among China’s ferrosilicon alloy production and consumption were 5.46 million tons and 4.86 million tons, accounting for 69.8% and 61.5% of the world. For silicon manganese, China is the world’s largest producer of silicon manganese, followed by India and Ukraine, which accounted for 91.3% of global ferro silico manganese output in 2011. In 2011, the world’s ferro silicon manganese production was 14.08 million tons, and the consumption was 14.06 million tons, of which China’s manganese ferro silicon production and consumption were 10.67 million tons and 10.66 million tons, accounting for 75.78% and 75.82% of the world. With the continuous growth of the world’s crude steel production, the world’s consumption of ferrosilicon and silicomanganese has also shown a continuous growth trend.
In terms of import and export trade, China has a small import volume of ferrosilicon, mainly from North Korea and Norway. China is the world’s largest exporter of ferro silicon, and Japan, South Korea and the United States are the main export target countries. The export volume of ferro silicon alloy presents first rise then descend, the main reason is that the 25% export tariff was imposed in 2009. The import and export volume of silico-manganese in China is very small and has shown a gradual decrease in recent years.
2. Ferro silicon Domestic Market
China is the world’s largest producer and consumer country of ferroalloys. The output of ferroalloys in China is increasing year by year. As of 2013, the output of ferroalloys in China has reached 37.7587 million tons, mainly distributed in Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Hunan, Ningxia, Sichuan and other provinces. Specifically, ferrosilicon is mainly distributed in northwestern regions such as Qinghai, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu, while silico-manganese is mainly distributed in southwestern provinces such as Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, and Yunnan, and the production areas are relatively concentrated. With the continuous growth of crude steel output, China’s ferroalloy output continues to grow, but the growth rate tends to be slow.
3. Domestic Ferroalloy Consumption Structure
The steel industry is the most important consumer of ferroalloys, and the consumption of ferroalloys in the steel industry accounts for more than 80% of the total consumption. In addition to being used for steelmaking, ferrosilicon is also used for smelting metal magnesium, which consumes about 1.2 tons of ferrosilicon to produce 1 ton of metal magnesium.