LONDON (Reuters) – Silicon producer Ferroglobe is aiming to restart its South African plant and boost output at its operation in the United States to benefit from strong demand and rising prices, its chief executive told Reuters.
Silicon metal is used to make aluminum alloys used by the auto sector and by the chemical industry to produce chemicals known as silicones.
Ferroglobe, the largest western producer of silicon metal and its alloys and manganese alloys, has a global silicon capacity of about 275,000 tonnes, excluding South African production. The silicon market is nearly three million tonnes.
Higher demand for silicon turned around the fortunes of Ferroglobe’s operations while anti-dumping duties https://www.missilicon.com/news/us-department-of-commerce-imposes-final-duties-on-all-silicon-metal-imports-from-malaysia-us-producers-report on cheap imports into the U.S. made the Alabama plant more viable.
“We are looking at the opportunity to restart the plant in South Africa which has been idled since 2019,” Ferroglobe CEO Marco Levi said, adding that the final decision on whether to open will be made in the fourth quarter of this year.
The company’s South African silicon plant, located in the city of Polokwane, produces 51,000 tonnes a year.
In the United States, Ferroglobe plans to restart the second furnace at its Alabama plant this month, taking production there to 24,000 tonnes of silicon.
(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Pratima Desai and Kirsten Donovan)
