South Africa’s power utility, Eskom, announced on Friday a further 29% reduction in electricity prices for two distressed ferrochrome firms to help avert thousands of job losses.
Samancor Chrome and Glencore-Merafe joint venture will now pay 62 South African cents per kilowatt-hour under the new tariff, down from an interim tariff of 87.74 cents per kilowatt-hour approved by South Africa’s energy regulator in January. At the end of 2025, the smelters were paying 1.36 rand ($0.0851) per kilowatt-hour.
South Africa’s smelting sector has been severely affected by electricity costs that have risen more than 900% since 2008, forcing dozens of plants to shut. Only 11 of a possible 66 smelters are currently operating, mainly due to high power costs, according to Energy Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa.
The minister said initial relief would target two smelters that had begun retrenchment processes, while the government is considering broader tariff support for the sector.
“As a result of this intervention, we expect that by December of this year, we’re going to have 45 smelters operating and by December 2027, we will have 49 smelters operating. So this is significant,” Ramokgopa added.
Merafe Resources, which jointly owns three smelters with Glencore, said it resumed operations at one of its three smelters that had shut down in May 2025 following a January 2026 power tariff reduction. The other two smelters will now operate under the 62-cent per kilowatt-hour tariff.
South Africa, the world’s largest chrome ore producer, has lost its position as the top global processor of chrome into ferrochrome to China, primarily due to high electricity costs. Energy-intensive smelters combine chromium and iron to produce ferrochrome, a key material used in steel production.
