Vanadium Market Update (March 6, 2013)

Vanadium prices remained sluggish as of the last week of February, despite both bullish comments from several steel business commentators and increasingly brisk trade in other steelmaking metals, like manganese.

Prices for European 98-percent vanadium pentoxide continued their 2013 slide. Since the beginning of the year, the price has dropped 3.7 percent; it currently sits between $6.30 and $6.70 per pound.

Chinese vanadium pentoxide prices have likewise been nosing downward.

During the last week of February, the value of Chinese 98-percent vanadium pentoxide fell 1.19 percent, to between 82,000 and 84,000 renminbi (US$13,181 to $13,502) per MT.

Prices for this product have been in gradual decline since early December, following a sharp run up during November 2012.