For the Quarter Ending June 2022
North America
American market remained concerned with the consistent climb in raw material costs bolstered by high inflationary pressure on consumers and rising producer price indexes in the regional market, which were later exacerbated by high fuel costs. Due to a sharp increase in production costs, the markets of the USA GGBFS were greatly disturbed. Natural gas prices increased since the Russo-Ukrainian War heated up on the European market, while the USA felt the pressure of high demand and declining stockpiles of GGBFS during May 2022. The government has been concerned as a result of manufacturers starting to pass inflationary pressure on consumers, according to a trader located in Houston who spoke with ChemAnalyst.
Asia
ChemAnalyst’s market sources based in China revealed that, under the influence of disturbing trade activities across the domestic market, GGBFS (Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag) prices rose in the country, and mounting raw material prices intensified the overall dynamics. Hiccups in the construction sector highly influence the Chinese economy; although the worsening epidemic hurt the country, construction raw material prices rose effectively in the local market. In the meantime, Indian players reduced their offers for the domestic market to induce offtakes from niche buyers. However, talking with ChemAnalyst, Mumbai based trader, revealed that it was a temporary measure that had been taken to encourage domestic buying activities.
Europe
Assessment by ChemAnalyst shows a significant hike of around 4% in the price of GGBFS in Germany by the end of Q2 2022 due to moderate to stable domestic market demand and rising input costs for the product. However, the data show that this price increase was primarily caused by rising input costs due to ongoing market volatility, as prices fell by 2% in May 2022. According to the statistics issued by Federal Statistical Office Germany, the consumer price index reached an all-time high of 116.2 points in April 2022, mostly driven by rising Natural gas prices in the country. Nevertheless, it was predicted that the production index would increase at the end of May and June, but it decreased in the interim. As a result, after seeing a fall in May, the GGBFS price was estimated to be approximately USD 5 per MT in June 2022 in Germany.
For the Quarter Ending March 2022
North America
Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) prices have remained nearly buoyant for this quarter on the back of rising energy feedstock prices. Prices have increased effectively this quarter due to firm demand from the downstream cement manufacturers. In North America, supply has been limited as the region's production has been sluggish and import amounts have been reduced due to high freight costs. Pricing offers for Si02 grade GGBFS have increased due to escalating downstream demand from the cement industry amid inadequate supplies from regional players. The price of GGBFS (SiO2– 35 percent) Ex-Texas was last assessed at USD 50/MT during February 2022. Moreover, ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been putting an upward pressure upon upstream values across the global market, hence exacerbating the inflationary pressure upon global key players. With the limited supply in the region, particularly in the United States, pricing levels are projected to continue to surge, implying that the market will remain tight.
Asia Pacific
In Asia, the Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBFS) market continued to exhibit upward price trajectory in Q1 2022 with a gain roughly about 2% (January-February) driven by the production halts, suspended operations on the account of Chinese New Year. The upstream Silica market was also under pressure from rising feedstock Crude Oil and energy prices since the beginning of Q1 of 2022. In addition, Russia’s invasion on Ukraine has disrupted the global market fundamentals, thereby, enhancing demand from downstream construction sector in the overseas market. The Chinese key players, post the holiday break, have witnessed increased enquiries for the product which led to the implementation of positive base price revisions across the region. The price discussions reached USD 46/MT for GGBFS (SiO2– 35%) Ex- Xinjiang in February 2022.
Europe
German market has seen an uprise for GGBFS and was recorded at USD 51/MT Ex- Hamburg in the month of February. The price rose due to rising demand from construction companies especially in developed economies like Germany, as they are preferring GGBFS to Portland cement due to its low carbon emission. The European union scheme to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions also contributed to the increased demand for GGBFS, since the Portland cement production kiln is a major producer of greenhouse gas emissions. Germany imports its upstream Silicate from Netherlands, and the production in Netherlands was suffering from shortage of feedstocks due to disrupted trading across Europe due to ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, escalated during February.
