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In early August 2021, Winston Chitando, Minister of Mining and Mineral Development of Zimbabwe, submitted the latest report to the cabinet, setting out the planned measures to promote the development of mining industry in the country and realize the output value of mining industry of US $12 billion by 2023. One of the three mining plans proposes to ban the export of chromite raw ore. The ban has been approved and will enter into force in July 2022. This is intended to protect domestic resources and promote the development of ferrochrome industry in Zimbabwe. The cabinet stated that exports were allowed only if all domestic smelters did not use chromite.
Zimbabwe is the world's second largest chromite resource country after South Africa, which is not the first time that Zimbabwe has imposed an export ban on domestic chromite. In April 2011, Zimbabwe also proposed an export ban on chromium ore, with a very similar purpose - trying to stimulate the production and export of high value-added ferrochrome. The export ban will give miners a "window period" for a certain period of time, so that manufacturers can build or restore smelting capacity.
Therefore, the export ban implemented by Zimbabwe in 2011 did not promote the development of its ferrochrome industry, because China (the world's largest ferrochrome importer) has encountered excess ferrochrome supply in the past few years and has less demand for ferrochrome in South Africa. In June 2015, the Zimbabwean government lifted the export ban. Affected by this, the export volume of chromite will increase to more than 1 million tons / year by 2018. These ores are mainly supplied to China's ferrochrome plants and mixed with low-grade South African ores.
Since reaching the bottom during the global financial crisis in 2009, Zimbabwe's ferrochrome production has maintained a slight upward trend. A key change in the ferrochrome industry in the country is that many ferrochrome plants are operated by Chinese enterprises. For example, the two largest producers, Afrochine, are subsidiaries of Tsingshan Industry, Zimasco is mainly controlled by Sinosteel Group, and some other small-scale producers are also controlled by Chinese enterprises.
At present, South Africa is also discussing the collection of chromite export tax. Once implemented, it will have a great impact on China's chromite industry. In 2021, due to the shutdown of some ferrochrome production capacity in China, the supply decreased, the ferrochrome price continued to rise, and the market attention returned to stainless steel alloy. But how long can the price rise of ferrochrome last and how long can overseas producers benefit from it? A key issue facing African countries is whether the local ore export ban and other relevant policies can stimulate investment in new ferrochrome production capacity (perhaps these policies are only short-term solutions to the problem of existing production capacity), which will also affect the long-term prospect of ferrochrome market.