Over the past week China's common alloys market has continued to be characterized by the sluggishness seen in the previous period. Due to the poor demand for manganese and silicon alloys caused by the weakness of the steel markets, prices in the domestic common alloys market have maintained their declining trend.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Silicon manganese | FeMn65Si17 | Guangxi | 7,700 | -250 | 1,136 | -37 |
Ferrosilicon | FeSi75 | Gansu | 6,500 | -100 | 959 | -15 |
In the past week, market quotations of FeMn65Si17 are at RMB 7,800-8,000/mt ($1,150-1,180/mt) in the north of China, down RMB 200/mt ($29/mt) week on week and are at RMB 7,500-7,800/mt ($1,106-1,150/mt) in the south, down RMB 200/mt ($29/mt) week on week. At the same time, the mainstream price of FeMn65 stands at RMB 7,500-7,700/mt ($1,108-1,137/mt), down RMB 200-300/mt ($29-44/mt) week on week. Meanwhile, export offers of FeMn65Si17 have been standing at $1,450/mt FOB, down $20/mt week on week.
Since most of medium- and small-sized steel mills have cut back production in recent days, demand for manganese alloys has been sluggish. In order to restrict raw material costs, many mills are trying to lower their purchase prices of raw materials and also reduce their purchase volumes. While some manganese alloy producers have been concluding sales at low prices in order to ensure cash flow, others have halted production for the time being and are selling from their inventories. Since the manganese alloy market is unlikely to turn around in the near future, it is thought that prices may continue to trend down in the coming period.
In the domestic ferrosilicon market, quotations have declined by a small margin. Current ex-works prices of ferrosilicon (75 percent) in the northwestern region stand at RMB 6,500/mt ($959/mt), down RMB 100/mt ($15/mt) week on week, while export offers of ferrosilicon (75 percent) have slid to $1,350/mt FOB.
Due to reduced demand and increased inventories, some ferrosilicon producers run the risk of incurring losses. Meanwhile, mills have been continuing to reduce purchase prices, decreasing them to RMB 6,700-6,800/mt ($1,018-1,032/mt), down RMB 100-150/mt ($15-22/mt) week on week. In line with the weak demand in the international markets, export offers of Chinese ferrosilicon have trended down to $1,350/mt FOB, but have still been unable to attract the interest of foreign buyers.