China's Battery-grade Manganese Sulphate Output Declined Significantly in May

SHANGHAI, June 10 (SMM) - China's battery-grade manganese sulphate output stood at 15,100 mt in May 2022, down significantly by 42% from 25,907 mt in April. Affected by high nickel prices and the pandemic, the output of domestic precursors dropped significantly, and the output of 5-series precursors with higher unit consumption of manganese salts dropped more significantly. The manganese sulphate prices continued to fall amid the decline of demand, and the output of manganese salt factories fell sharply due to the compressed profits and the decline of downstream demand.

In June, the output of precursors is expected to increase. But since some precursor plants still have sufficient manganese salt inventory, the delivery situation at the beginning of the month improved only slightly, hence the output of salt plants does not increase significantly for the time being, and subsequent adjustments will be made according to the actual downstream demand. According to the production schedule and inventory of precursors, it is expected that the demand will increase in the mid and late-June. Therefore, some manganese salt factories initially plan to increase or resume the production in late-June. The output in June is expected to be 20,650 mt, an increase of 37% from the previous month.