Merafe Resources, the steel manufacturer in South Africa, indicates that the ferro-chrome price is expected to hike in 2010 owing to soaring demand in China and shortage of electricity supply in South Africa, though the base price of ferro-chrome in Europe still declines slightly.

The company believes the price will keep surging in the second quarter of this year. However, the production of ferro-chrome will not be increased in the next three years because the electricity produced from Eskom in South Africa is in short supply.

On the other hand, the exploitation of ferro-chrome three years later will depend on Eskom, which whether it will purchase the power stations of Medupi and Kusile and than operate according to its original plan.

According to the stats from Merafe, the total output of ferro-chrome in the world in 2009 was about 5,833 tons, with 37 percent of output from South Africa. Moreover, it is expected that the production in 2010 will be pushed to 7,570 tons, with 42 percent of output from South Africa.