Chinese manganese alloys market remains on upward trend

Over the past week the Chinese manganese alloys market has maintained its upward trend. As many producers have suspended production, supplies of silicon manganese products have been tight and the purchase prices of steel mills have increased greatly. Meanwhile, the domestic ferrosilicon market has remained stable.

In the past week, the prices of manganese alloys in China have continued to rise. Currently, Chinese domestic market quotations of FeMn65Si17 are at RMB 9,000-9,300/mt ($1,343-1,388/mt), up RMB 300-400/mt ($45-59/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), up RMB 100/mt ($15/mt) week on week. Meanwhile, export offers of FeMn65Si17 are still standing at $1,650/mt FOB.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, domestic silicon manganese and high carbon ferromanganese prices have remained robust. With government policy to save energy and reduce emissions being implemented in the main production areas, many producers of silicon manganese have been greatly affected and so market supplies of silicon manganese have decreased greatly. The purchase prices of domestic mills are standing in the range of RMB 9,000-9,200/mt ($1,343-1,373/mt).

During the past week Chinese ferrosilicon prices have remained stable. Current ex-works prices of ferrosilicon (75 percent) in China stand at RMB 7,800-8,200/mt ($1,164-1,224/mt), unchanged week on week, while export offers of ferrosilicon (75 percent) from China have remained at $1,650/mt FOB.

Over the past week Chinese ferrosilicon prices have remained stable. Currently, small and medium-sized ferrosilicon enterprises' offers have declined to RMB 7,800-8,000/mt ($1,164-1,194/mt), while large-scale enterprises' offers are still at RMB 8,200/mt. Steel mills expect that ferrosilicon prices will show a downtrend after the National Day holiday due to increased supplies of ferrosilicon.