According to a June 2007 report by Global Industry Analysts Inc., the international manganese market is projected to reach approximately 11.6 million mt by 2010, with the Asia-Pacific market, excluding Japan, estimated to consume 5.3 million mt of manganese by that time.
With the growing steel consumption in China and India, these countries' demand for manganese is expected to increase over the coming years. Following China and India in manganese consumption is Europe, which accounted for an estimated 26.3 percent of manganese consumption in 2006.
Demand for steel has a direct impact on manganese consumption. More than 80 percent of manganese produced is used in steel production. As steel production and demand have grown rapidly in the last three years, manganese consumption has increased accordingly. The two forms of manganese that are commonly used in steel production are ferro manganese and silico manganese. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to consume 1.6 million mt of ferro manganese and 2.2 million mt of silico manganese by 2010.
In addition to the economic boom seen in China and India, resulting in higher steel prices and demand, the recent movement towards consolidation in the steel industry at large has also increased steel consumption. Therefore, the upward trend of manganese demand is predicted to last for another five years before it stabilizes. It is expected that the steel industry's total consumption of manganese will show a growth rate of 3.1 percent between 2001 and 2010.