The Chinese domestic manganese ore market has mostly moved on a slight downtrend during the past week, though with some minor upticks in prices for certain ore grades from Australia. The mainstream quotations of Australian lump ore with 46 percent Mn content currently stand at $4.23/dmtu at China's Tianjin port, while offers of lump ore of 48 percent Mn content are at $4.39/dmtu. Also at Tianjin port, quotations for 44 percent grade Mn ore from Gabon are at $3.74/dmtu, while offers of South African lump ore of 38 percent Mn content are at $3.66/dmtu.
The slight rise in certain prices of Australian manganese ore in the past week constitutes a correction after several months of soft price movement and is also mainly because of support from Australian miner BHP Billiton's ore quotations. Manganese ore inventory levels at China ports are still at high levels. For the coming week, it is expected that the domestic manganese ore market will follow a stable trend.