The Chinese domestic manganese ore market has continued to follow a stable trend during the past week. The mainstream quotations of Australian lump ore with 46 percent Mn content currently stand at $8.18/dmtu (RMB 55/dmtu) at China’s Tianjin port, while offers of lump ore of 48 percent Mn content are at $7.74/dmtu (RMB 52/dmtu). Also at Tianjin port, quotations for 44 percent grade Mn ore from Gabon are at $7.60/dmtu (RMB 51/dmtu), while offers of South African lump ore of 38 percent Mn content are at $6.70dmtu (RMB 45/dmtu). ($1 = RMB 6.72)
Overall trading activity in the Chinese manganese ore market has become slack in the past week amid producers’ high inventories and fluctuations of downstream manganese alloy prices at high price levels. After a couple of weeks of stable movement at elevated price levels, it is thought that manganese ore prices may be characterized by a slight softening in the near future due to the weakness of demand. As for the coming week, it is believed that manganese ore prices in China may indicate a mostly stable trend, with some slight downticks possible too.