China's manganese alloys market has continued to be characterized by weakness over the past week, with low demand coming from domestic steel mills. Downward manganese ore prices have also influenced the manganese alloys market in China. Most mills expect purchase prices will be lower in November. On the other hand, China's domestic ferrosilicon market has moved up due to production restrictions on ferrosilicon enterprises.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Silicon manganese | FeMn65Si17 | Guangxi | 8,800 | -150 | 1,319 | -22 |
Ferrosilicon | FeSi75 | Gansu | 8,150 | +300 | 1,222 | +45 |
In the past week, the prices of manganese alloys in China have continued to show a downward trend. Currently, Chinese domestic market quotations of FeMn65Si17 are at RMB 8,700-8,900/mt ($1,304-1,334/mt), down RMB 150/mt ($22/mt), week on week. At the same time, the mainstream price of FeMn65 stands at around RMB 8,500-8,700/mt ($1,269-1,299/mt), unchanged week on week. Meanwhile, export offers of FeMn65Si17 are standing at $1,620/mt FOB.
Recently, international manganese ore prices have declined and purchases from domestic steel mills have also decreased, leading to the decline in domestic manganese alloy prices. Current inventories of manganese alloys held by domestic steel mills are high in general, and so they are not in any hurry to purchase. Most mills expect that purchase prices will be lower in November. Looking at the current situation, most manganese alloy enterprises are still facing rationing of power supply. Activity in the domestic manganese alloys market is expected to remain sluggish in the coming period.
On the other hand, current ex-works prices of ferrosilicon (75 percent) in China stand at RMB 8,100-8,300/mt ($1,214-1,244/mt), up RMB 300/mt ($45/mt) week on week, while export offers of ferrosilicon (75 percent) from China are standing at $1,700-1,750/mt FOB, with few transactions observed in the export market.
Over the past week Chinese ferrosilicon prices have moved up again. Due to production restrictions on ferrosilicon enterprises in China's main production area, producers are currently not inclined to sell ferrosilicon. Insiders generally consider that there is still room for increases in market prices in the near future.