China’s manganese alloy market remains weak, ferrosilicon still declines

China's manganese alloy market has continued to follow a weak trend in the past week, mainly due to poor market demand. More and more domestic manganese alloy producers have started to suspend production. On the other hand, China's domestic ferrosilicon market has also continued to decline in the past week.

In the past week, market prices of manganese alloys in China have remained on a weak trend. Currently, Chinese domestic market quotations of FeMn65Si17 are at RMB 8,200-8,300/mt ($1,239-1,254/mt), with quotations in southwestern China standing at RMB 7,900-8,100/mt ($1,193-1,223/mt), down another RMB 100/mt ($15/mt) week on week. At the same time, the mainstream price of FeMn65 stands at around RMB 8,000/mt ($1,208/mt), unchanged week on week. Meanwhile, export offers of FeMn65Si17 are at $1,460/mt FOB, almost unchanged week on week.

For the time being, demand from domestic steel mills continues to be sluggish, and this has been the main factor affecting the trend in domestic manganese alloy prices. Looking at the current situation, more and more domestic manganese alloy manufacturers have started to suspend or limit production, particularly in northern China. It is thought that the domestic manganese alloy market may continue its weak trend in the near future.

During the past week, Chinese ferrosilicon prices have continued to slide down. Current ex-works prices of ferrosilicon (75 percent) in China stand at RMB 7,300/mt ($1,103/mt), down another RMB 200-300/mt ($30-45/mt) week on week. In addition, export offers of ferrosilicon (75 percent) from China have also continued to decline slightly week on week, falling to $1,550/mt FOB, with the transaction volume on the weak side.

In the past week, China's ferrosilicon market has seen tepid demand, while market supply has gradually increased as ferrosilicon producers have progressively resumed their production in the main production regions of China. For now, profitability of most ferrosilicon enterprises is still quite good, and market supply will continue to increase in the coming period.

In November, China's exports of ferrosilicon totaled 62,500 mt, down 6.37 percent from October. In the first 11 months of the year, China's aggregate ferrosilicon exports totaled 731,000 mt, up by 9.34 percent year on year, of which 35,500 mt was delivered to Japan, down 9.03 percent, with 11,400 mt delivered to South Korea, up 5.3 percent, all compared to the corresponding period of 2009.