U.S. Gulf: Sources quoted the Gulf sulfuric acid market at $45-$50/mt CFR for the week, unchanged from the previous report. Many expected new business to land toward the upper end of the range.
Brazil-delivered cargoes were called $50-$55/mt CFR, flat from the prior week, with Northwest European smelter tons said to run $10-$15/mt FOB.
Domestic players put the Midwest market at $80-$90/t DEL, with West Coast tons quoted at $100-$110/t DEL, both unmoved from the week before. Material delivered to the U.S. Gulf region was called $85-$95/t DEL.
Australia: Frequent power failures and unpredictable electricity pricing will lead Korea Zinc Co.-owned Sun Metals to build its own solar power farm in the Australian outback, sources reported.
Primarily reliant on coal-fueled electricity production, Australian smelters have been negatively impacted by a government-mandated shift toward renewable energy production. A 20 percent renewable energy goal targeted by the government has made business difficult for Australian smelters, sources said, an industry that often cites dependable power as its single most important production factor.
An October 2016 blackout cost two South Australia smelters a combined $35 million in repairs and lost production, and Alcoa’s Portland smelter is limited to approximately 30 percent production capacity through mid-2017 after a January power outage caused extensive damage to the facility.
Queensland electricity futures averaged approximately $180 per megawatt hour (MWh) in 2016, according to a recent Reuters report, considerably higher than $32.02/MWh in Germany and $25-$35/MWh in the U.S.