China’s domestic manganese ore market has for the most part followed a stable trend during the past week. The mainstream quotations of Australian lump ore with 46 percent Mn content currently stand at $6.88-7.13/dmtu at China’s Tianjin port, while offers of lump ore of 48 percent Mn content are at $7.29/dmtu. Also at Tianjin port, quotations for 44 percent grade Mn ore from Gabon are standing at $6.32/dmtu, while offers of South African lump ore of 38 percent Mn content are at $5.75/dmtu.
During the past week, domestic manganese ore prices have mostly been stable, with only South Africa origin lump ore indicating a slight increase. Prices of South African ore have been at competitive levels, while the material has also been attracting a stable trading volume. Market observers believe that these factors contributed to the slight increase seen in prices of South African ore in the past week. Meanwhile, traders would also like to increase the prices of manganese ore from other sources, but they lack support on the trading volume side. Furthermore, activity in the downstream manganese alloy market is still weak and so demand for manganese ore has slackened. However, on the positive side, steel mills’ purchase price quotations for manganese alloys for November are about RMB 50-150/mt higher than for October, giving rise to hope that some upward movement may be seen in the manganese ore market in the future. For the coming week, it is believed that China’s manganese ore market will mainly remain on a stable trend.