India's chrome ore spot price is rising and strongly influencing other countries' market price such as Turkey and South Africa due to roughly US$44/mt tariff on chrome ore export levied by Indian government since March 1.

According to an analysis, the main reason that the high carbochrome spot price increases dramatically is because India controls its chrome ore export affected by high tariff. Furthermore, South African government has announced it will restrain its Chrome ore export.

The analysis also shows China's chrome ore import volume was about 440,000 tons last year, and is predicted at least over 800,000 tons in 2007, which is similar to Japan's performance in 2006.

In addition, the production of China's chrome ore will be curtailed around 600,000 tons if India side drops its chrome ore export about 50%. Last year, china imported the chrome ore about 1.3 million from India.

The increasing production of china's stainless steel also enhances the demand for chrome ore in 2007. Hence, the chrome ore price is generally estimated to go up this year.