Chinese manganese ore sees limited upward room on sluggish demand

SHANGHAI, Mar 14 (SMM) – Prices of manganese ore in China are likely to remain rangebound with limited upward room in the short term due to a potential decline in the downstream consumption, SMM believes. This comes even as higher import costs drive up ore prices. 

As many steel mills in north China limited production to combat air pollution during the non-heating season, consumption of manganese ore and silicomanganese is likely to fall. This means that the growth of manganese ore prices may lose some support. Prices for downstream manganese alloy, such as silicomanganese, remained flat and faced pressure this week.

In addition, China's imported manganese ore prices for April and May are moving higher.

UMK offered South African semi-carbonate ore with 36% Mn at $0.4/dmtu higher at $8.25/dmtu cif China for May. South32 offered Australian ore with 46% Mn at $8.9/dmtu cif this April, up $1.07/dmtu month on month, and Comilog offered Gabonese ore with 44.5% Mn at $8.8/dmtu cif, up $1.3/dmtu from March.

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