WEEKLY: China Mn ore stocks at 9-year high, price down
“Manganese ore consumption at the Chinese ports improved moderately over the past week, but new arrivals have exceeded the pace of consumption, so port stocks still rose,” a market watcher in Shanghai said.
The latest detailed data from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) did show that China’s manganese ore imports reversed up to a five-month high of about 3.2 million tonnes for October, up 17.1% or 470,000 tonnes on month.
High inventories at Chinese ports while stagnant demand from domestic steel mills in winter months amid the slowing steel consumption pressured the domestic manganese price, and Mysteel’s price index of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade manganese ore at North China’s Tianjin port, for example, decreased steadily to Yuan 35.08/dmtu ($5/dmtu), or down another Yuan 1.14/dmtu on week or Yuan 0.26/dmtu on month, according to Mysteel’s data.
In the near term, China’s manganese ore port inventories prices are expected to stay stressed with the shrinking demand from manganese alloy producers.
“Some (SiMn) smelters in South China have halted production after having consumed all the in-house manganese ore stocks in hand amid high cost and low selling prices,” the Shanghai-based market insider disclosed. Manganese alloy producers in South and Southwest China usually prefer to smelt with the more cost-effective hydropower rather than thermal power in the wet season, Mysteel Global notes.
Mysteel’s weekly survey among China’s 121 SiMn smelters showed that daily SiMn output over November 22-28 came in at 27,124 tonnes/day, down 574 t/d on week, in sharp contrast to high manganese ore piles at the ports.
As of November 29, the price for 6517 grade SiMn in South China remained unchanged at Yuan 5,925/t EXW and including the 13% VAT, the same level from one week before, Mysteel’s data showed.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com; Amy Bian, bianma@mysteel.com
Edited by Hongmei Li, li.hongmei@mysteel.com
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