"Reviewing the remarkable growth in China’s demand for commodities and its domestic production during the last decade is always eye opening, with the steel industry standing out as the prime example. In 2011, China produced 61% of the world’s total steel output, and consumed most of that production domestically. This is even more astounding given China’s domestic iron ore supply meets only 40% of domestic demand. In order to delve deeper into the stainless steel industry one must examine ferrochrome, a main ingredient used in steel production. In 2011, China consumed 3.5 million tons of high carbon ferrochrome, more than half of which was produced domestically. With China having almost no domestic chrome reserves, nearly all of the ferrochrome produced in China relies on imported chrome. From 2003 to 2011, though China’s production of high carbon ferrochrome increased by nearly 10 times, from around 420,000 tons to over 2.5 million tons, this still cannot meet domestic demand."

Read more............

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/2012/10/15/chinas-ferrochrome-output-altering-global-balance?eNL=507c638d150ba02f2700007c&utm_source=DailyENL&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=RI_eNL&_LID=36959170