Global bulk steel alloys short-term outlook February 2024

As we expected, though logistical challenges remain significant, the past month has seen many alloy prices in Western markets fall back. Chinese prices have also generally continued to fall. However, we believe this will prove to be temporary. Across most markets and geographies, we expect prices to rebound later in 2024 and into 2025 as markets rebalance and prices move back into line with production costs. Ore prices remain polarised, with chrome ore prices still highly elevated and forecast to decline into 2025. In contrast, manganese ore prices remain low. They are beginning to move up, and we expect a sustained recovery over the next two years.