<> Silicon Metal = In the Chinese domestic market, the price of low-grade products rebounds and the prices of mainly 553 grade and also 441 grade show an upward trend. As to the price of 553 grade, such price hike is sporadically seen as being up by CNY400 per ton from the end of August, for which the price of high-grade products also seems to bottom out, and some market watchers predict the price will show an upward trend in the latter half of September.

In Japan, many of the customers finished the purchase for the products to be delivered until next February, and the purchase of spot goods is extremely low. However, the offer price was pushed up by US$30 per ton along with the price increase in China as a supplier, and the contract price was up by US$20 - US$30.

<> Ferro-silicon = The authority concerned restarted accepting for the shipment of ferro-silicon at Tianjing on September 7, but stopped it immediately and it is not yet clear when the authority will restart accepting. For that reason, the shipment for export is taking place at Tsingtao and Lianyungang. 

The production volume of products with Si being 75% decreases, and the quantity distributed in the market also decreases, but the price shows a trend of tapering down and dropped to CNY100 per ton from the end of August. Because of that, the export price also drops together as a whole.

In Japan, the regularly-exported products cause a shortage, but both offer and contract prices were up by US$15 - US$20 from the end of August because of the cheap prices of products distributed in the market as well as roundabout products and the increased distributed quantity of Malaysian products.

All the prices of products distributed in the market were down by around US$40 per ton from the end of August owing to the further increase in the ratio of cheap products in the domestic market and price competition with Malaysian products.

On the one hand, both offer and contract prices for Russian products were down by US$15 from the end of August.

<> Silico Manganese = Albeit Indian producers showed a reluctance to reduce prices, but reduced prices slightly due to the oversupply in Asia and cheap rupee.

In Japan, the trading of spot goods continues to be thin because of continuing low demand from the steel mills and the anticipation of a price fall. Among these situations, the contract price was down by around US$20 from the end of August. 

The price in China dropped by CNY100 - CNY200 per ton from the end of August due to low consumption by the domestic steel mills and the price cut due to decreased electricity rate in the southern area. Therefore, the offer price meant for Japan also was lowered by around US$30, but no contract seems to have been made. 

• [Editor:Sophie]