According to the customs statistics of Brazil, ferro-silicon imported in June was 2,304 tons, drastically up by 51.1% from 1,524 tons of the prior month. This is because of the sharp increase in the import of Russian products.

Although Brazil is a main producing country for ferro-silicon under normal conditions, the import volume has been rapidly increasing continuously due to accelerated production curtailment arising from power shortage.

In Brazil where the hydroelectric power generation comprises 80% of the total domestic power generation, the power shortage attributed to drought has been still ongoing, and the problems in production of ferro-silicon and silicon metal have come up. Furthermore, some producers stopped operation for the reason of buy-back of electricity by electric power companies, and the supply for the domestic consumption is now extremely tight.

In addition to steel mills in Brazil importing ferro-silicon to offset a shortage, there also has been an import in order for the ferro-silicon producers to cover the contract balance, which resultingly increased the cumulative import volume for the period from January to June to 5,788 tons, up by two times as much as the year-earlier period.

• [Editor:Phillip.Feng]