During the past week, the Chinese ferrosilicon market has continued its rising trend, but a wait-and-see atmosphere has arisen in the market due to the purchases previously concluded by the steel mills. Meanwhile, the domestic manganese alloys market has remained stable, with transactions fewer than before and steel mills' purchase prices for May increasing slightly.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Silicon manganese | FeMn65Si17 | Guangxi | 8,450 | - | 1,239 | - |
Ferrosilicon | FeSi75 | Gansu | 6,700 | +100 | 982 | +15 |
In the past week, the prices of manganese alloys have basically remained stable in China's domestic market. Market quotations of FeMn65Si17 are at RMB 8,400-8,550/mt ($1,232-1,254/mt) in the south of China; at the same time, the mainstream price of FeMn65 in the south stands at RMB 8,400-8,500/mt ($1,232-1,246/mt), while export offers of FeMn65Si17 have been standing at $1,500-1,550/mt FOB.
In recent days, quotations of imported manganese ore have been stable and the price of electricity has declined. In this context, the production rates of manganese alloys producers are higher than before. Looking at the current situation, local market demand is still limited and most steel mills' stocks are at sufficient levels. As regards costs, even though manganese ore prices have maintained their high levels, leading to high costs, electricity costs have dropped in southwest China and so the cost pressure on local manganese alloy producers has declined to some extent.
China's domestic ferrosilicon prices have continued rising in the past week. The ex-factory price of ferrosilicon (75 percent) stands at RMB 6,600-6,800/mt ($968-997/mt) in northwestern China, and some mills' quotations have risen to RMB 6,900/mt ($1,012/mt). In addition, export quotations of domestic ferrosilicon (75 percent) have been standing at $1,400-1,430/mt FOB.
There has been a large gap between ferrosilicon prices offered by large steel mills and those offered by small and medium sized steel mills. With purchases from steel mills slowing, the domestic ferrosilicon market may become stable. The ferrosilicon export market is currently following a stable trend, and, due to the favorable Chinese export price, the export market situation may continue to improve in the short term.