Merafe ferrochrome output collapses 95% as idled smelters bite

Ferrochrome production from the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture plunged 95% year on year in the quarter ended 31 March 2026, to just 13,000 tonnes on a total venture basis, with Merafe Resources' attributable share amounting to only 3,000 tonnes. The collapse reflected the continued idling of the venture's Boshoek and Wonderkop smelters in Rustenburg, which had been suspended in May and June of the previous year in response to rising electricity costs and weak global ferrochrome markets.

Chrome ore output kept climbing

While ferrochrome production cratered, the venture's chrome ore output — mined ore that is exported raw rather than smelted domestically — actually rose 3% year on year, to 830,000 tonnes on a total basis and 214,000 tonnes attributable to Merafe. The divergence illustrated a trend playing out across South Africa's chrome sector: ore mining continuing largely unaffected while domestic smelting, dependent on Eskom power, ground to a halt.

The cost of standing idle

Keeping smelters idled rather than permanently closing them is itself expensive, since furnaces require ongoing maintenance and a workforce retained for an eventual restart. That dynamic explains why Glencore-Merafe pushed so hard for an emergency Eskom tariff rather than accepting the smelters' closure as permanent — a push that succeeded when Nersa approved a 62c/kWh rate in May 2026, paving the way for the two smelters to restart the following month.

Why it matters

The scale of the Q1 output collapse — a 95% year-on-year fall — quantifies just how severe the impact of high electricity costs had become for South Africa's ferrochrome producers before the tariff relief arrived. It also underscores why South Africa's raw chrome ore exports climbed even as its ferrochrome exports slid: with domestic smelting uneconomic, more ore simply left the country unprocessed.

What happens next

With Boshoek and Wonderkop restarting from June 2026, subsequent quarters should show a partial recovery in ferrochrome output, though Merafe has cautioned that full capacity utilisation, and a genuine return to profitability, will take longer than simply switching the furnaces back on.

Sources

• Mysteel: Glencore ferrochrome output plunges 95% in Q1, 24 Apr 2026
• SteelOrbis: S. Africa's Merafe Resources posts lower ferrochrome output for Q1, 24 Apr 2026

Photo: A ferrochrome smelter plant of the kind idled by the Glencore-Merafe Chrome Venture during 2025 and early 2026. JMK, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.