The Chinese manganese ore market has followed a stable trend in the past week. The mainstream quotations of Australian lump ore with 44 percent Mn content currently stand at $6.35-6.50/dmtu at China's Tianjin port, while offers of South African origin lump ore of 44 percent Mn content are at $6.50-6.67/dmtu. Also at Tianjin port, quotations for 38 percent grade Mn ore from Australia are in the range of $5.95-6.11/dmtu, while offers of South African lump ore of 38 percent Mn content are at $6.03/dmtu.
In the past week, the manganese ore spot market in China has not been influenced by the reductions in steel mills' product prices, but has maintained stable price levels. Meanwhile, manganese alloy prices in China have also been stable in the past week. In southern China, production of manganese alloys has been at low levels, while the cost of raw material is high, and so manganese alloy producers have been under obvious pressure. Quoted prices of manganese ore are stable at strong levels but downstream manganese alloy prices are not as good as previously anticipated. On the inventory side, manganese ore stock levels at ports have been trending down continuously and so some traders may use this as an opportunity to increase their prices. At the same time, manganese alloy producers are caught between cost pressure and slack downstream demand. For the coming week, it is thought that the Chinese manganese ore market will generally move on a stable trend, though possibly with some minor price fluctuations.