South Africa's International Ferro Metals Ltd posted a 24 percent fall in second-quarter sales on Thursday due to a sharp fall in demand.
The company said it sold 21,410 tonnes of ferrochrome during the three months to the end of December compared with 28,025 tonnes in the previous quarter. The year-on-year decline was 34 percent.
The firm cut production of ferrochrome by up to 40pc from December due to low prices
"The company's actions have been designed to conserve cash whilst retaining the ability to start production efficiently when demand for ferrochrome returns," it said in a statement. IFM said it had 526 million rand ($51.2 million) in cash at the end of 2008.
According to the company, global ferrochrome production cuts amounted to about 70%, while production from South Africa - the world's largest producer - had been reduced by about 85%.
However the company had already started seeing a “revival” of demand from China. It has started receiving more enquiries for material from Chinese stainless steel producers, with a smaller number of enquiries coming from Europe and the US.
However, there was an abundance of chrome-ore inventory and enough ferrochrome available on the market, particularly from Indian and Chinese producers, which would continue to dampen prices and demand from non-Chinese sources, it said.
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