The Chinese market for vanadium is currently very narrow due to the corona virus. As the market experts at Fastmarket estimate, the price of ferro-vanadium rose in China in early February compared to the previous week by more than seven percent. Ferro-vanadium is an alloy of iron and vanadium and has a vanadium content between 35 and 85 percent. According to the experts, the price increase is due to increased purchase prices for mills. The supply of vanadium has been short-term since the outbreak of the corona virus.

China: Foreign demand for vanadium has failed

As the analysts also report, Chinese vanadium processing plants had recently received requests from outside China, but would not have met them. The experts cite the price difference between vanadium on the Chinese market and outside as reasons. In this context, representatives of Mühlen made it clear that they wanted to primarily meet Chinese demand in 2020.

Given the growing importance of the metal for vanadium redox flow batteries, foreign manufacturers of vanadium could become increasingly the focus of battery manufacturers. The market is currently heavily dominated by China , making it difficult for companies outside of Asia to procure the metal at competitive prices. Profits could be mine projects outside of China. An example is the company Australian Vanadium Ltd. (ASX: AVL, ISIN: AU000000AVL6; WKN: A2ABRH) , which has three projects "Down Under". A preliminary feasibility study is already available for the Australian vanadium project, which calculates competitive mining costs. Australia is a well-known mining location and offers legal security as well as proximity to processing plants and producers in Asia.

Vanadium after euphoria and depression

After the price of vanadium went through the roof in 2018, a price slump followed last year. Since the metal industry is primarily in demand for the metal, the vanadium price is considered to be economically sensitive. However, experts now see the market as balanced and expect long-term growth in demand from battery manufacturers too.

https://www.miningscout.de/blog/2020/02/12/preis-fuer-vanadium-in-china-zieht-an/