In the past week China's manganese alloy market has showed an upward trend again. Currently, demand for manganese alloys from domestic steel mills has improved, with mills' purchase prices increasing to some extent recently. On the other hand, the domestic ferrosilicon market has continued to follow a soft trend, with prices down slightly due to the increased supplies of ferrosilicon in the spot market.
Product name | Specification | Place of origin | Price (RMB/mt) | Weekly change (RMB/mt) | Price ($/mt) | Weekly change ($/mt) |
Silicon manganese | FeMn65Si17 | Guangxi | 8,250 | +50 | 1,256 | +8 |
Ferrosilicon | FeSi75 | Gansu | 6,850 | -150 | 1,043 | -23 |
Purchase activity increases in China's manganese alloy market
Currently, Chinese domestic market quotations of FeMn65Si17 are at RMB 8,300-8,450/mt ($1,263-1,286/mt), with quotations in southwestern China standing at RMB 8,000-8,200/mt ($1,218-1,248/mt), up RMB 50-100 ($8-15/mt) week on week. At the same time, the mainstream price of FeMn65 stands at around RMB 7,800-8,000/mt ($1,185-1,216/mt), unchanged week on week. Meanwhile, export offers of FeMn65Si17 are at $1,460/mt FOB, up slightly from the previous week.
After entering the second week after the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, Chinese's manganese alloy market started to indicate an upward trend. Looking at the current situation, supplies of manganese alloys are quite tight in southwestern China. The purchase prices of silicon manganese from the steel mills in southwestern China have surged to RMB 8,400/m ($1271/mt) and purchase prices from mills in northern China are standing at RMB 8,500-8,600/mt ($1,294-1,309/mt).
Supply increases and prices drop in China's ferrosilicon market
Current ex-works prices of ferrosilicon (75 percent) in China stand at RMB 6,800-6,900/mt ($1,035-1,050/mt), down RMB 150/mt ($123/mt) week on week. In addition, export offers of ferrosilicon (75 percent) from China have remained at $1,500/mt FOB.
China's ferrosilicon market has been following a soft trend in the past week. Based on the current situation, most domestic ferrosilicon enterprises are not optimistic on the prospects for the ferrosilicon market in the coming period. With the end of the Chinese New Year, supplies of ferrosilicon in the domestic market have increased. The market may see a halt to its downward trend in the coming period as domestic steel mills start to purchases supplies for March.