China's common alloys market has varied between stability and weakness in the past week. In line with the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday, China's manganese alloy market has seen little transaction activity and has generally moved on a slightly weak trend. On the other hand, China's ferrosilicon market prices have remained flat in the week in question.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price(RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) | |
Silicon manganese | FeMn65Si17 | Guangxi | 8,050 | -50 | 1,223 | -8 | |
Ferrosilicon | FeSi75 | Gansu | 7,050 | - | 1,071 | - |
China's manganese market characterized by slightly weak trend
Currently, Chinese domestic market quotations of FeMn65Si17 are at RMB 8,000-8,200/mt ($1,216-1,246/mt), with quotations in southwestern China standing at RMB 7,800-8,000/mt ($1,185-1,216/mt), slightly down RMB 50/mt ($7.5/mt) week on week. At the same time, the mainstream price of FeMn65 stands at around RMB 7,700-7,800/mt ($1,170-1,185/mt), down by just RMB 100/mt ($15/mt) week on week. Meanwhile, export offers of FeMn65Si17 are at $1,450/mt FOB, unchanged week on week.
China's manganese alloy market has followed a slightly soft trend in the past week. For the time being, Chinese manganese alloy manufacturers are still facing pressure from higher production costs, due to higher prices of electricity in many regions of the country and also due to high import manganese ore prices, with offers of Australian manganese ore (44 percent) currently standing at RMB 53/mtu. As a result, the number of domestic manganese alloy manufacturers which have suspended or restricted their production operations has increased again. In addition, in line with the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday, purchasing activities have declined and steel mills are not inclined to purchase significant tonnages of manganese alloys. The manganese alloy market may continue to follow its current slightly soft trend ahead of the holiday.
Demand for ferrosilicon currently sluggish in China
Current ex-works prices of ferrosilicon (75 percent) in China stand at RMB 7,000-7,100/mt ($1,064-1,079/mt), unchanged week on week, with some offers rising to RMB 7,300-7,500/mt ($1,109-1,140/mt). In addition, export offers of ferrosilicon (75 percent) from China have remained at $1,510/mt FOB, with the ferrosilicon export transaction volume on the weak side at present.
In the past week, the production of ferrosilicon manufacturers in southwestern China has declined significantly due to unfavorable weather condition and offers in Sichuan Province have increased to RMB 7,500/mt ($1,140/mt). However, southwestern China is not the main production region for ferrosilicon in China and the ferrosilicon offers of other main production regions like Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, etc., have remained unchanged. Looking at the current situation, market demand in China for ferrosilicon is sluggish and domestic steel mills are unlikely to raise their purchase prices of ferrosilicon.