Rising Coal Prices Boost Magnesium Ingot Costs, Prices Up to 15,800-15,900 Yuan/Ton

China’s lithium manganese oxide industry boasts an extremely high self‑sufficiency rate with sufficient production capacity. Domestic consumption dominates market demand, while exports serve only as a supplementary channel, resulting in very low import dependence. According to customs data, China’s imports of lithium manganese oxide stood at merely 89.79 tonnes in 2025, and no import was recorded from January to April 2026.

[Magnesium Ingot Consolidates on a Weak Note This Week, Tug-of-War Between Sellers and Buyers Persists] This week, China's magnesium ingot prices edged down and consolidated on a weak note overall. On the supply side, production resumptions at enterprises that had been under maintenance led to increased supply and inventory, and some producers sold at a discount, while raw material costs provided downside support to prices. Foreign trade inquiries increased slightly, but clients outside China mainly focused on destocking. New order growth was limited and clients pushed notably for lower prices. Coupled with multiple external factors, traders were cautious in taking orders. China's downstream demand remained persistently weak. Processing fees for magnesium products were under pressure, and end-users mainly made just-in-time procurement. Combined with bearish factors such as industry substitution and enterprise maintenance, the demand side remained sluggish. In the short term, cost support and weak demand will form a tug-of-war, and magnesium prices will continue to consolidate on a weak note. Market attention should focus on the recovery of orders outside China after the summer break.

The domestic battery-grade manganese sulfate market maintained stable pricing this week, with spot prices oscillating within a range. Neither upward nor downward movements have found strong driving forces. Compared with seasonal patterns in previous years, downstream precursor plants had already initiated partial advance stockpiling by late August last year, which drove a recovery in spot transactions.