[Ferro-Alloys.com]In the molybdenum business, the steel industry is our largest customer. More than 70% of molybdenum’s first use is in steel.

The steel market is off to a strong start in 2017. After a sluggish 2015, it bottomed in mid-2016 and has been steadily recovering. 

As emerging economies industrialize, their use of higher strength and stainless steels increases. This helps lift the intensity of moly use in their steel industries.

China has maintained its pace of growth as the world’s second largest economy after the United States. China consumes approximately a third of the world’s moly and produces approximately half of the world’s crude and stainless steels.

From 2007 to 2016, China has increased its average intensity of use of molybdenum approximately 5% to 8.6 kg of moly per 100 tonnes of steel, according to the CPM Group.

China’s moly use is well below the world average intensity at 14.3 kg of moly per 100 tonnes of steel, as shown in Chart 2. CPM estimates that if China’s use reached the world average, the country would need an additional 100.6 million pounds of molybdenum per year, which is the equivalent of 20% of the total amount of molybdenum consumed in 2016.

Moly Use per 100 Tonnes of Steel, 2016: The largest molybdenum application in steel is in full alloy or engineering steel, which includes oil country tubular good (OCTG) steels. Fully alloy steels have heavy industrial applications in chemical and energy facilities and automotive components. CPM projects growth in full alloy steel to be at 3.2% over the 10-year period ending in 2025.

The second largest category of molybdenum’s steel use is stainless steel. As a result of stainless steel’s value-added properties in many of industrial and residential applications, stainless steelmakers can register higher output growth during rapid industrialization and increased standards of living around the world.

• [Editor:Jiang Li Juan ]