SteelOrbis Shanghai
Over the past week the Chinese manganese alloys market continued its previous downward movement while the silicon alloys market still kept fluctuating on a weak trend, against a background of sluggish trading levels.
By the end of trading on June 26, the market price of silicon manganese in southwestern and northern China was down about RMB 300/mt ($39/mt) to RMB 8,200-8,500/mt ($1,078-1,117/mt), while the price of high carbon ferromanganese (65#) in Guangxi and Shanxi is still around RMB 8,600/mt ($1,130/mt). The ex-factory price of high carbon ferromanganese (75#) has declined by RMB 200/mt ($26/mt) to RMB 9,700-9,800/mt ($1,275-1,288/mt). Meanwhile, the market price of ferrosilicon (75#) has slightly declined to RMB 5,800/mt ($762/mt), with export quotations sliding to levels of $950/mt FOB.
With regard to manganese alloys, the domestic prices of silicon manganese alloys continued to go down last week against a background of weak overall market demand. Some producers had to reduce their quotations continuously so as to ensure steady sales revenues. As a result, the mainstream price level of silicon manganese was down RMB 1,000/mt compared with early June, but with a sluggish trading performance was still being observed. According to some market players, under the pressure of weak market demand, some manganese alloys producers are registering high levels of stock. In addition, the mills continued to lower their purchase prices.
The Chinese manganese ore prices still stayed at high levels in recent days; meanwhile, the imported ore prices seemed steady and showed no evidence of a reduction. At present, the market price of Brazil Mn>45 percent (medium granularity) is at RMB 57/mtu ($8/mtu), while the market price of Australia Mn>44 percent (lump) stands at RMB 64/mtu ($9/mtu).
As regards ferrosilicon, the market posted a minor reduction throughout the past week. After the sharp jump of the previous times, the market demand gradually began to weaken, thus driving down the market quotations in various regions. However, according to the current situation, the possibility of the ferrosilicon price seeing any significant collapse is very small. Furthermore, the implementation of differential pricing in electricity has entailed a remarkable increase in production costs. Since the high cost level provides support for upward price movement in the ferrosilicon market, it is not so easy for the market to move down. Thus, the quotations of large-scale enterprises in Gansu, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and some other regions retain their overall stability.