Merafe Resources,South Africa,the partner with Xstrata in Xstrata-Merafe Chrome Venture,announced on December 19 that the benchmark price for the South African charge chrome shipped to Europe during the Q1(January-March)of 2013 was settled at US$1.125/lb Cr,up US$0.025/lb Cr or 2.3%from the preceding quarter.
The buyers,European stainless steel mills accepted the small rise basically because(i)supply cut from South Africa is expected during the Q1 due to Eskom's power buyback,(ii)LME nickel price is in an upward trend which could well raise chrome prices,and(iii)European SUS mills increase output during the Q1 in normal years.