China's manganese ore prices stay under pressure
As of April 2, the price of South Africa-origin 36.5% grade Mn ore at North China's Tianjin port was assessed by Mysteel at Yuan 32.7/dmtu ($4.5/dmtu) including the 13% VAT, lower by Yuan 0.3/dmtu from one week before.
As China's SiMn prices continue to struggle to stay positive, this is placing more pressure on the prices of manganese ore, according to industry sources. Given the heavy losses they have suffered, more domestic smelters are conducting maintenance on their smelting facilities or have slowed their production pace, causing their consumption of manganese ore shrink accordingly.
For example, the national price of 6517 SiMn under Mysteel's assessment had slipped to Yuan 5,796/t including the 13% VAT as of April 2, falling by another Yuan 69/t on week and recording the lowest since November 19 2019.
SiMn prices in the derivative market have also weakened, with the most-traded SiMn contract on the Zhengzhou Futures Exchange for delivery in May closing the daytime trading session at Yuan 6,114/t on Tuesday, lower by Yuan 42/t from the settlement price on March 26, according to the exchange's data.
Slowing demand for manganese ore from manganese alloy smelters saw the inventories of this ore at China's major ports accumulate, Mysteel Global noted.
As of March 29, total manganese ore stocks at the country's major ports reached 5.36 million tonnes, increasing by 284,000 tonnes or 6% compared with the previous week, according to Mysteel's latest weekly survey.
However, some domestic Mn ore traders are unwilling to concede more in their offering prices, as their import costs still stay at a high level with the higher offering prices of overseas suppliers. For the time being, many are in wait-and-see mode, waiting for the next round of manganese ore offering prices from overseas miners, a market source in Shanghai said.
Written by Nancy Zheng, zhengmm@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
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