Merafe Resources, the 20.5% JV partner of Glencore’s ferrochrome business in South Africa, released its Q3 2022 attributable ferrochrome production statistic of 84kt.

Merafe Resources stated that the ferrochrome production at the Glencore-Merafe JV furnaces, all located in South Africa, was not significantly impacted by power curtailments, however, production in Q3 was down from two consecutive quarters of more than 100kt of attributable production. South African power utility, Eskom, had ramped up “load-shedding” (rolling blackouts) over the third quarter, with as much as 6GW (stage 6) removed from the grid at any time.

Not only did load-shedding mean areas were switched off for up to 12 hours per day (depending on location), but winter tariffs had also come into play and ramp up energy costs from June. With European ferrochrome prices in freefall and costs increasing, this led to tightening margins over Q3. Nevertheless, Project Blue’s data suggests that South African ferrochrome production could remain at record levels for 2022, depending on the impact of Europe’s energy crisis on the remaining stainless steel producers as winter kicks off in the northern hemisphere.