The Chinese domestic manganese ore market has moved on a slight downtrend during the past week. The mainstream quotations of Australian lump ore with 46 percent Mn content currently stand at $5.04/dmtu at China's Tianjin port, while offers of lump ore of 48 percent Mn content are at $5.37/dmtu. Also at Tianjin port, quotations for 44 percent grade Mn ore from Gabon are at $4.81/dmtu, while offers of South African lump ore of 38 percent Mn content are at $4.64/dmtu.
Decreases in overseas miners' ore quotations have contributed to the minor decreases seen in the Chinese manganese ore market in the past week, while domestic traders' stocks are at high levels and so the traders are willing to give discounts in order to increase their sales volumes. At the same time, however, demand from downstream manganese alloy producers has not fully recovered yet and so overall demand in the domestic manganese ore market is still at low levels. It is believed that, as downstream demand will improve in the coming few weeks, domestic manganese ore prices may resume their stable movement.