SHANGHAI, Mar. 6 (SMM) --

Domestic market:

Quotations at ports varied greatly due mainly to rising manganese ore prices in overseas markets and falling manganese alloy prices in domestic markets. SMM believes manganese ore prices at ports will gradually fall due to weak demand from manganese alloy producers and ferrous metals producers. However, small and medium traders at ports took a wait-and-see stance amid rising CIF prices.

Transactions:

Trading activity in southern and northern ports remained tepid. Transactions at high prices are reported at the moment, but this situation will be short-lived given that manganese alloy producers exhibited higher intention of suspending production against high raw material prices. 

To sum up, markets are bearish over downstream demand. Prices are stagnant at the moment as growing arrivals in March are putting downward pressure on prices while rising CIF prices have pushed up costs for domestic manganese ore importers.