The result of demand and supply for ferro-chrome in the period from January to March in 2014 is compiled, which shows the consumption (some of them are estimate figures) of ferro-chrome in the same period is 175,406 tons for high carbon and 12,529 tons for low carbon which represented an increase of 13.4% versus the year-earlier period and a decrease of 7.2% ditto respectively.

The production volume of specialty crude steel related to the consumption of ferro-chrome in the period from January to March was 6.2645 million tons, up by 9.1% from the year-earlier period, of which the production volume of stainless steel products which were highly related to the consumption of high-carbon ferro-chrome was 754,000 tons, up by 9.5% ditto, which was a factor for increased consumption of high-carbon ferro-chrome.

For a reference, the steel statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry releases the figures in the statistics of consumption of ferro-chrome as a total of high-carbon and low-carbon products instead of dividing into two products starting with the result in January 2014. Accordingly, in order to estimate the trend of consumption by product, our report uses the figures made by multiplying the production volume of specialty crude steel in the period from January to March in 2014 by a unit of consumption in December 2013.

• [Editor:Juan]